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r E S T u s 



A POEM 



BY 



PHILIP JAMES BAILEY 



BARRISTER AT LAW. 



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5 5 J 1 > 



BOSTON: 
BENJAMIN B. MUSSEY & CO., 

29 CORNHILL. 

1852. 



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r R E F A C E 



TO THE AMERICAN EDITION 



VTe here present to the American public a book 
which h;is produced no httle sensation in England, 
and which has been, for some time, known to many 
in this country. But although the first edition was 
issued six years since, it has had but a limited 
circulation among us ; and it is beheved that in 
re-publishing 'Festus,' wo not only perform a work 
which its merits demand, but open, for the first 
time, to many who will appreciate it, a great and 
origmal poem. The peculiar value of the second 
English edition, from which this is printed, consists 
in the 'Proem,' which was not attached to the first. 
Having placed at the end of the volume some of the 
highest literary opinions in England, we will not in- 
trude any analysis of our own. But a word upon one 
point. "With many minds, it will be difficult to acquit 



PREFACE. 



the author from the charge of ii-reverence. For this 
purpose, we refer to liis vindication in the Proem and 
in the body of the work ; by which the reader will 
perceive that he is free from irreverence in spirit, 
whatever question there may be as to the propriety 
of certain forms of expression. As to the extrav- 
agimces, which all will discover, they are the ex- 
travagances of deep and eloquent passion — the 
luxuriant overgrowth of a profoundly rich soil. 
With all its faults, *Festus' is a great poem — a 
mine of thought and imagery. It is perfectly safe 
to pronounce it one of the most powerful and 
splendid productions of the age. 



DEDICATION. 



jMy father ! unto tlice to whom I owe 

All that I am, all that I have and can ; 
"\Mio madest me In thyself the sum of man 

In all his generous aims and powers to know, 

These firstrfrults brlno; I ; nor do thou foreiro 
!Markhig when I the boyish feat began, 
Which numbers now near three years from Its plan, 

Xot twenty summers had linbrowued my brow. 
Life is at blood-heat every page doth prove. 

Bear with it. Nature means Necessity. 
If here be aught which thou canst love, it springs 

Out of the hope that I may earn that love 
More unto me than immortality ; 

Or to have Strang my harp with golden strings. 

1833. 



1 



PROEM. 



WixnouT all fear, without presumption, lie 
"Who wrote this work would speak respecting it 
A few brief words, and face his friend the world ; 
Revising, not reversing, what hath been. 

Poetry Is Itself a thing of God ; 
lie made Ills prophets poets ; and the more 
"We feel of poesle do we become 
Like God in love and power, — under-makers. 
All great lays, equals to the minds of men, 
Deal more or less with the Divine, and have 
For end some good of mind or soul of man. 
The mind is this world's, but the soul Is God's ; 
The wise man joins them here all In his power. 
The high and holy works, amid lesser lays, 
Stand up like churches among village cots ; 
And It Ls joy to think that in every age, 
However much the world was wrong therein, 
The greatest works of mind or hand have been 
Done unto God. So may they ever be ! 
It shews the strength of wish we have to be great, 
And the sublime humility of might. 

True fiction hath in it a higher end 
Than fact ; it is the possible compared 
"With what is merely positive, and gives 
To the conceptlve soul an Inner world, 
A higher, ampler, Heaven than that wherein 
The nations sun themselves. In that bright state 
Are met the mental creatures of the men 
AVhose names are writ highest on the rounded crown 



8 PROEM. 

Of Fame's triumplical arch ; the sliinlng shapes 

"Which star the skies of that invisible land, 

Which, whosoe'er avouIJ enter, let him learn ; — 

'T is not enough to draw forms fair and livel j, 

Their conduct likewise must be beautiful ; 

A hearty holiness must crown the work. 

As a gold cross the minster-dome, and show, 

Like that instonement of divinity, 

That the whole building doth belong to God. 

And for the book before us, though it were, 

What it is not, supremely little, like 

The needled angle of a high church spire. 

Its sole end points to God the Father's glory. 

From all eternity seen ; making clear 

His miixht and love in saving sinful man. 

One bard shows God as He deals with states and kings ; 

Another, as He dealt with the first man ; 

Another, as with Heaven and earth and hell ; 

Ours, as He loves to order a chance soul 

Chosen out of the world, from first to last. 

And all alono; it is the heart of man 

Emblemed, created and creative mind. 

It is a statued mind and naked heart 

Which is struck out. Other bards draw men dressed 

In manners, customs, forms, appearances. 

Laws, places, times, and countless accidents 

Of peace or polity : to him these are not ; 

He makes no mention, takes no compt of them : — 

But shows, however great his doubts, sins, trials, 

"WTiatever earthborn pleasures soil man's soul, 

"WTiat power soever he may gain of evil. 

That still, till death, time is ; that God's great Heaven 

Stands open day and night to man and spirit ; 

For all are of the race of God, and have 

In themselves good. The life-writ of a heart, 

Whose firmest prop and highest meaning was 

The hope of serving God as poet-priest. 

And the belief that He would not put back 

Love-oil erinn;s, thouoh brouoht to Him bv hands 



PROEM. 9 

Unclean and earthy, e'en as fiillen man's 

Must be ; and most of all, the thankful show • 

Of His high power and goodness in redeeming 

And blessing souls that love Him, spite of sin 

And their old earthy strain, — these are the aims, 

The doctrines, truths, and staple of the story 

What theme sublimer than soul being saved ? 

*T is the bard's aim to show the mind-made world 

"Without, within ; how the soul stands with God, 

And the unseen realities about us. 

It is a view of life spiritual 

And earthly. Let all look upon it, then. 

In the same light it was drawn and colored in ; 

In ftiith, in that the writer too hath faith, 

Albeit an efiect, and not a cause. 

Faith is a higher faculty than reason. 

Though of the brightest power of revelation ; 

As the snow-headed mountain rises o'er 

The lightning, and applies itself to Heaven. 

We know in day-time there are stars about us, 

Just as at night, and name them what and where 

By sight of science ; so by faith we know, 

Although we may not see them till our night, 

That spirits are about us, and believe. 

That, to a spirit's eye, all Heaven may be 

As full of angels as a beam of lijTht 

Of motes. As spiritual, it shows all 

Classes of life, perhaps, above our kind, 

Known to tradition, reason, or God's word, 

Whose brio-ht foundations are the heights of Heaven. 

As earthly, it embodies most the life 

Of youth, its powers, its aims, its deeds, its failings ; 

And, as a sketch of world-life, it begins 

And ends, and rightly, in Heaven and with God ; 

Wliile Heaven is also in the midst thereof. 

God, or all good, the evil of the world. 
And man, wherein are both, are each displayed. 
Tlie mortal is the model of all men. 
The foibles, follies, trials, suflerings — 



10 PROEM. 

And manifest and manifold are they — 

Of a young, hot, un world-schooled heart that has 

Had its own way in life, and wherein all 

]\Iay see some likeness of their own, — 'tis these 

Attract, unite, and, sunlike, concentrate 

The ever-moving system of our feelings. 

The hero is the world-man, in whose heart 

One passion stands for all, the most indulged. 

The scenes wherein he plays his part are life, 

A sphere whose centre is co-heavenly 

AVith its divine oriiiinul and end. 

Like life, too, as ^a whole, the story hath 

A moral, and each scene one, as in life, — 

One universal and peculiar truth — 

Shining upon it like the quiet moon, 

Illustrating the obscure unequal earth ; — 

And though these scenes may seem to careless eyes 

Irregular and rough and unconnected. 

Like to the stones at Stonehenge, — though convolved, 

And in primeval mystery, — still an use, 

A meaning, and a purpose may be marked 

Among them of a temple reared to God : — 

The meaning alway dwelling in the word, 

In secret sanctity, like a golden toy 

IMld Beauty's orbed bosom. Scenes of earth 

And Heaven are mixed, as flesh and soul in man. 

Now, the religion of the book is this. 
Followed out from the book God writ of old. 
All creatures being faulty by their nature, 
And by God made all liable to sin, 
God only could atone — and unto none 
Except Himself — for universal sin. 
It is thus that God did sacrifice to God, 
Himself unto Himself, in the great way 
Of Triune mystery. His death, as man, 
AVas real as our own ; and as, except 
In the destruction of all life, there could 
Be no atonement for its sin, while life 
Doth necessarily result from God, 



PROEM. 11 

As thouglit and outward action from ourselves, 

So the atonement must be to and by Him ; 

"Wliicli makes it justice equally with love ; 

For all His poAvers and attributes are equal, 

And must make one in any act of His ; 

And every act of God is infinite. 

He acts througli all in all : the truth we know, 

He doth Himself inbreathe ; the ill we do, 

He hath atoned for ; and the scriptures show 

That God doth suffer for the sins of those 

Whom He hath made, that are liable to sin. 

In all of us He hath His agony ; 

AVe are the cross, and death of God, and grave. 

Him love then all the more, and worsliip Him 

AV'ho lived and died, and rose from death for us. 

And is and reigns forever God in all. 

Let each man think himself an act of God, 

His mind a thouglit, his life a breath of God ; 

And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds, 

To show the most of Heaven he hath in him. 

!Many who read the word of life, much doubt 
"Whether salvation be of grace or faith. 
Election, or repentance, or good works, 
Or God's high will : reconcile all of them. 
Each of the persons of the Triune God 
Hath had His dispensation, hath it now ; 
The Father by His prophets, and the Son 
111 His own days, by His own deeds ; and now 
The Spirit, by the ministry of Christ ; 
And thus, by law, by gospel, and by grace. 
The scheme of God's salvation is complete. 
Salvation, then, is God-like, threefold ; so 
That under one or other, all may come ; 
By will of God alone, by faith in Christ, 
And by repentance, and good works, and grace. 
So there is one salvation of the Father, 
One of the Son, another of the Spirit ; 
Each, the salvation of the Three In One. 
The mortal in this lay is saved of will, 



12 PROEM. 

In manner as this hymn unfolds, which hath 
Just warranty for every word from God's. 

O God ! Tliou wondrous One in Three, 

As mortals must Thee deem ; 
Thou only canst be said to be, 

"We but at best to seem. 
For Thou dost save, and Thou may'st sLay, 

Canst make a mortal soul 
In Thee eternal ; in a day 

Wilt bring to nought the whole. 

Thou hardenest, and Thou openest hearts, 

As in Thy Word is shown ; 
Thou savest and destroyest parts, 

By Thy right will alone. 
Let down Thy grace, then, Lord I on all 

Whom Thou wilt save to live ; 
Oh ! if they stumble, stop their fall ! 

Oh ! if they fall, forgive I 

They are forgiven from the first, 
4 They are predestined Thine ; 

And though in sin they were the worst, 

In Thee they are divine. 
They are, and were, and will be, Lord I 

In one, in Heaven, in Thee, 
Yea with the S])irit, and the Word, 

One God in Trinity. 

These principles and doctrines pending not 

Upon the action of the poem here, 

But over and above it, inlluencinGT 

Nevertheless the story, as the course 

Of stars enwoven with our system, earth, 

Vary the view of this life's hemisphere, 

And mingle it more palpably with Heaven, 

And with its changeless, ceaseless, boundless God. 

It is thus that by creating to and from 



PROEM. 13 

Eternity, and multiplying ever 

Ills own one Belno; tliroujrh the universe, 

lie doth eternize happiness, and make 

(lood infinite by making all in Ilim. 

There is but one great right and good ; and ill 

And wrong are shades tliereof, not substances. 

Kotbinji^ can be antao-onist to God. 

Necessity, like electricity, 
Is in ourselves and all things, and no more 
"Without us than within us ; and we live, 
We of this mortal mixture, in the same law 
.As the pure colourless intelligence 
"Which dwells in Heaven, and the dead Iladcan shades. 
"We will and act and talk of Uberty ; 
And all our wills and all our doings both 
Are limited within this little life. 
Free will is but necessity in play, — 
The clattering of the golden reins which guide 
The thunder-footed coursers of the sun. 
The ship which goes to sea informed with fire, — 
Obeying only its own iron force. 
Reckless of adverse tide, breeze dead, or weak 
As infant's parting breath, too faint to stir 
The feather held before it, — Is as much 
The appointed thrall of all the elements, 
As the white-bosomed bark which wooes the wind, 
And when it dies desists. And thus with man ; 
However contrary he set his heart 
To God, he is but working out His will ; 
And, at an infinite angle, more or less 
Obeying his own soul's necessity. 
He only hath freewill Avhose will is fate. 

Evil and good are God's right hand and left. 
By ministry of evil good is clear, 
And by temptation virtue ; as of yore 
Out of the grave rose God. Let this be deemed 
Enough to justify the portion weighed 
To the great spirit Evil, named herein. 
If evil seem the most, yet good most Is : 



14 PROEM. 

As water nitiy be deep and pure below 

Although the face be filmy for a time. 

And if the spirit of evil seem more in 

The work than God, it is but to work Ills will, 

AV^ho therefore is all that the other seems. 

And evil is in almost every scene 

Of life more or less forward. Above all 

The mystery of the Trinity is held, 

Whose mystery is its reasonableness. 

All that is said of Deity is said 

In love and reverence. Be it so conceived. 

What comes before and after the great world, — 

Deep in the secretest abyss of Liglit, 

And Being's most reserved immensity — 

God alone knows eternally, who rends 

The mantling Heavens with his hands ; but with 

The present is communion creatural : 

He liveth in the sacrament of life. 

And for the soul of man delineate here — 

The outline half invisible — is shown 

The self-sought grace, the self-aspiring truth 

And natural religion of the heart 

Contrasting Godhood with humanity 

Ever ; whereas the Spirit aye unites. 

Temptation, and its workings in the heart 

Whose faint and false resistance but assists, — 

Ambition, thirst of secret lore, joy, love — 

Kiverlike, doubling sometimes on itself — 

Adventure, pleasure, travel heavenly 

And earthly, friendship, passion, poesle, 

Viewed ever in their spiritual end — 

And power, celestial happiness and earth's 

Millenial foretaste, ill annihilate. 

The restoration of the angels lost, 

And one salvation universal given 

To all create, — all these, rehited, form, 

With much beside, the body of the work :— 

The islands, seas, and mainland of its orb. 



PROEM. 15 

Thus mucli then for this book. It aims to mark 
The various beliefs as well as doubts 
"WTiich hold or search by turns the mind of youth 
Unresting anywhere. Its heresies, 
If such they be, are charitable ones ; — 
For they who read not in the blest belief 
That all souls may be saved, read to no end. 
AVe were made to be saved. "We are of God. 
Nor bates the book one tittle of the truth, 
To smoothe its way to favour with the fearful. 

AH rests with those who read. A work or thought 
I^what each makes it to himself, and may 
Be full of great dark meanings, like the sea, 
AVith shoals of life rushing; or like the air, 
Bcniirhted with the wint; of the wild dove. 
Sweeping miles broad o'er the far western woods, 
AVith mighty glimpses of the central ligiit — 
Or may be nothing — bodiless, spiritless. 

Kow therefore to his work and to the world 
The writer bids, Go<l speed ! It matters not 
If they agree or differ. Each perchance 
]\Iay bear true witness to another end. 
Let then what hath been, be. It boots not here 
To palliate misdoings. 'T were less toil 
To build Colossus than to hew a hill 
Into a statue. Hail and farewell, all I 



. F E S T U S. 



Scene — Heaven. 

God. 
Eternity hath snowed its years upon them ; 
And the white winter of their age is come, 
The World and all its worlds ; and all shall end. 
Seraphim. God! God! God! 

As flames in skies 
. We burn and rise 

And lose ourselves in Thee ! 

Years on years ! 

And nought appears 

Save God to be. 

God! God! God! 

To us no thought 

Hath Being brought 

Toward Thee that doth not move t 

Years on years! 

And what appears 

Save God to love ? 
2 



18 FESTUS. 

God! God! God! 

All Thou dost make 

Lies like a lake 

Below Thine infinite eye : 

Years on years ! 

And all appears 

Save God to die. 
Cherubim. As sun and sta^, 

How high or far, 

Shew but a boundless sky ; 

So creature mind 

Is all confined 

To shew Thee, God, most High I 

The sun still burns, 

The sun still turns 

Round, round himself and round;. 

So creature mind 

To self's confined. 

But Thou God hast no bound ! 

Systems arise. 
• Or a world dies. 

Each constant hour in air ; 

But creature mind. 

In Heaven confined. 

Lives on like Thee, God ! there. 
Seraphim and Cherubim. God ! God I God ! 

Thou fill'st our eyes 

As were the skies 

One burning, boundless sun ! 

While creature mind. 

In path confined, 

Passeth a spot thereon. 

God ! God ! God ! [pure ye are ! 

Lucifer. Ye thrones of Heaven, how bright, how 
How have ye brightened since I saw ye first ! 



FESTUS. 19 

How have I darkened since ye saw rae last ! 

What is the dark abyss of fire, and what 

The ravenous heights of air, o'er which I reign, 

In agony of glory, to these seats ? 

The loathsome cavern of the oracle, 

O'er which ye rise in templed majesty, 

Filled with the incense of all worshippers, 

And echoing with the eloquence of God, 

"Which rolls in sunny clouds around the heavens. 

Yet must I work through world and life my fate ; 

And ^vinding through the wards of human hearts, 

Steal their incarnate strength. Death does his work 

In secret and in joy mtense, untold. 

As though an earthquake smacked its mumbling lips 

O'er some thick peopled city. But for me, 

Exists nor peace nor pleasure, even here. 

Where all beside, the very faintest thought, 

Is rapture. I will speak to God as erst. 

Father of spirit, as the sun of air ! 

Beginning of all ends, and end of all 

Beginnings, throughout whole Eternity ; 

From whom Eternity and every power 

Perfect, and pure cause, is and emanates ! 

Originator without origin ! 

End without end ! Creator of all ages, 

And sabbath of all Being ; who hast made 

All numbers sacred, who art all and one ! 

At whose right hand the wisdom of all worlds 

Combined, is only fearful foolishness 

Or inarticulate madness, — and Thou, Lord ! 

Maker and Perfecter of all, the one ! 

Beinj]!: above all Beincr, God the Life ! 

Who art the way whereon the world proceeds 

From God, all-making, and whereby returns 

The ever 2:eneraled universe I — 



20 FESTUS. 

Who rulest all worlds in the law of light, 

Thy nature and their own ; who art before 

All ages, angels, blessed, times and worlds ! 

Word that in every world art safe to save 

All souls, impregned with spirit, God-begot ! 

And Thou eternal spirit-Deity ! 

The sanctifier of the universe ! 

Being, and Life, and spirit, who dost make, 

Destroy est, recreatest, makest God ! 

God one and Trine ! Thou seest me here again ; 

Still, sunlike, though eclipsed, of blinding power 

And fiery cause, and evemess of ill ; 

Behold I bow before Thee ; hear Thou me ! 

God. 
What wouldst thou, Lucifer ? 

Lucifer. There is a youth 

Among the sons of men I fain would have 
Given up wholly to me. 

God. 

He is thine, 
To tempt. 

Lucifer. I thank Thee, Lord ! 

God. 

Upon his soul 
Thou hast no power. All souls are mine for aye. 
And I do give thee leave to this that he 
May know my love is more than all his sin, 
And prove unto himself that nought but God 
Can satisfy the soul He maketh great. 

Lucifer. Thou God art all in one ! Thy infinite 
Bounds Being. Thou hast said the world shall end. 
The world is perfect, as concerns itself, 
And all its parts and ends ; not as towards Thee. 
So man is likest and unlikest God, 
Of all existence ; therefore doth as much 



FESTUS. 21 

Resemble Thee as any act a mind. 

In him of whom I ask, I seek once more 

To tempt the living world, and then depart. 

The Holy Ghost. And I will hallow him to the 
ends of Heaven, 
That though he plunge his soul in sin like a sword 
In water, it shall nowise cling to him. 
He is of Heaven. All things are known in Heaven, 
Ere aimed at upon earth. The child is chosen. 
Saints. Another soul 

The Holy one 
Hath chosen out of earth ; 

And there is none 

Throusfhout the whole 
Like worthy of his birth. 
Guardian Angel. Oh ! wdio hath joy like 
mine ? was I not here 
Wlien from Thy boundless bosom, as a star 
Out of the air, that soul was kindled, Lord ! 
And given to me to guard and guide — while both, 
Mid starry strains out of the depths of Heaven, 
Fell at Thy feet in worship ? — joy of joysl 
To you, ye saints and angels, let me speak ; 
For ye I see rejoice with me. Ye know 
What 'tis to triumph o'er temptation, w^hat 
To fall before it ; how the young spirit faints — 
The virgin tremor, the heart's ebb and flow, 
When first some vast temptation calmly comes 
And states itself before it, like the sun 
Low looming in the west, above the wave 
Of wimpling streamlet, ere its w^aters grow 
To size aortal. Than the Fiend himself 
There is no greater evil. Less the shame 
Of yielding, more the glory of conquering, 
In him, to whom he goes, this soul elect. 



22 FESTUS. 

From infancy through childhood, np to youtli, 

Have I this soul attended ; marked him blest 

With all the sweet and sacred ties of life ; — 

The prayerful love of parents, pride of friends, 

Prosperity, and health and ease, the aids 

Of learning, social converse with the good 

And gifted, and his heart all-lit with love, 

Like to the rolling sea with living light ; — 

Hopeful and generous and earnest ; rich 

In commune with high spirits, loving truth 

And wisdom for their own divinest selves : 

Tracking the deeds of the world's glory, or 

Conning the words of wisdom, lieaven-inspired. 

As on the soul, in pure eifectual ray. 

The bright, transparent atoms, thought by thought, 

Fall fixed for evermore. And thus his days, 

Through sunny noon, or mooned eve, or night 

Star-armied, shining through the deathless air, 

All radiantly elapsed, in good or joy. 

All this, for long, I marked. There grew, at length, 

A change within his spirit ; and I feared 

A fatal a'nd a final fall from good. 

God's love seemed lost upon him. He became 

Heart-deadened. Watching, warning, vain, I fled 

Hither to intercede with God our Lord, 

To bless him with salvation. We may plead 

Alway for those we love, by leave divine. 

Nor knew I till this moment, with all Heaven, 

That, in the righteous providence of God, 

That soul was saved. Thou knowest. Lord ! the 

mould 
Of mortals, and the infinite end whereto 
The souls Thou savest are predestinate ; 
Oh ! be Thy mercy mighty to this soul. 
Fiend-threatened ; nor permit him who presides 



FESTUS. 23 

O'er Hell's eternal holocaust, too far 

To tempt or tamper with the heart of man ! — 

God. 
My mercy doth outstretch the universe ; 
Shall it not be sufficient for one soul ? 

Lucifer. I am the wrath of God unto myself, 
And made by Him to do my part. Do thou 
Thine ! they are far enough apart I ween. 

Guardian Angel. The heaven-strung chords 
of man's immortal soul 
Are not for thee to wither at thy will. 
Bear witness, all ye blessed, to the word ; — 
Angels, intelligences, sons of God ! 
Ye who know nought but truth, feel nought but love, 
Will nought but bliss, do nought but righteousness ! 
Whose life was ere the Heavens were conceived, 
The stars begotten, or the ages born ; 
Ye many ordered hierarchies, which are 
The love, truth, justice, majesty and might, 
Dominion, glory, wisdom, bliss of God ; 
Ye through whose ministry of mercy — His 
Immediate, ever instant, active, all 
Spirits and worlds are governed — age by age 
Gazing and gaining glory ; ye who stand, 
Stirless, before the throne, entranced in joy ; 
Or ye, whose life is to present all souls 
Reborn to their Creator ; or to search 
The golden globed skies for deeds of grace ; 
And ye who move all Heavens, in whose names 
The name of God is, as in angels' all ; 
The crown, the wisdom, the intelligence. 
Kindness, and strength and beauty, splendour, worth, 
Original and rule ; and ye who move 
Restless around the throne, the burning seven. 
The virtue, power, salvation, fire and rest, 



24 FESTUS. 

Blessing and praise of God ; and ye who rule 

Regions or kingdoms, states, tribes, families, 

Ages and times, and seasons, and events ; 

Systems and elements, material powers, 

Mental and spiritual ; or ye who bear 

Souls from the heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; 

Ye tenants of the archetypal worlds 

And spiritual spheres ; and you, ye saints ! 

Freed once on earth into the liberty 

Of the necessity which is of God ; 

Yours are the many multitudes of stars. 

And bliss and power for ever, ye are gods ! 

And live an endless life, bespoken here ; 

Bear witness, all, that happiness succeeds 

To godliness ; and that, despite of sin, 

The world may recognise in all time's scenes, 

Though belts of clouds bar half its burning disk, 

The overruling, overtlirowing power. 

Which by our creature purposes works out 

Its deeds, and by our deeds its purposes. 

Lucifer. God ! for thy glory only can I act, 
And for thy creatures' good. When creatures stray 
Farthest from Thee, then warmest towards them 

burns 
Thy love, even as yon sun beams hotliest on 
The earth when distant most. 

God. 

The earth whereon 
He dwells, this grain selected from the sands 
Of life, dies with him. 

Lucifer. God ! I go to do 

Thy will. 

God. 
Thou, too, who watchest o'er the world 
Whose end I fix, prepare to have it judged. 



FESTUS. 25 

Angel of Earth. Let me not then have watched 
o'er it in vain. 
From age to age, from hour to hour I still 
Have hoped it would grow better — hope so now ; 
*Tis better than it once was, and hath more 
Of mind and freedom than it ever had. 
I love it more than ever. Thou didst give 
It to me as a child. To me earth is 
Even as the boundless universe to Thee ; 
Naj, more ! for Thou couldst make another. It is 
My world. Take it not from me Lord ! Thou, Christ ! 
Mad'st it the altar where thou ofFeredst up 
Thyself for the creation. Let it be 
Immortal as Thy love. And altars are 
Holy ; and sister angels, sister orbs 
Hail it afar as such. Oh ! I have heard 
World question world and answer ; seen them weep 
Each other if eclipsed for one red hour, 
And of all worlds most generous was mme, 
The tenderest and the fairest. 

Lucifer. Knowest thou not 

God's son to be the brother and the friend 
Of spirit everywhere ? Or hath thy soul 
Been bound for ever to thy foolish world ? 

Angel. Star unto star speaks light, and world 
to world 
Repeats the password of the universe 
To God ; the name of Christ — the one great word 
"Well worth all languages in earth or Heaven. 

Son of God. Think not I lived and died for 
thine alone. 
And that no other sphere hath hailed me Christ. 
My life is ever suffering for love. 
In judging and redeeming worlds is spent 
Mme everlasting being. 



26 FESTUS. 

Lucifer. Earth lie next 

Will judge ; for so saith God. 

Angel of Earth. Be it not, Lord ! 

Thou art a God of goodness and of love ; 
He is the evil of the universe, 
And loveth not the earth, Thy Son, nor Thee. 
Thou knowest best. 

Lucifer. Behold now all yon worlds ! 

The space each fills shall be its successor. 
Accept the consolation ! 

Angel of Earth. Earth ! oh, Earth ! 

Lucifer. 'Tis earth shall lead destruction ; she 
shall end. 
The stars shall wonder why she comes no more 
On her accustomed orbit, and the sun 
Miss one of his eleven of light ; the moon, 
An orphan orb, shall seek for earth for aye, 
Through time's untrodden depths and find her not ; 
No more shall morn, out of the holy east. 
Stream o'er the amber air her leve' light ; 
Nor evening, with the spectral fingers, draw 
Her star-sprent curtain round the head of earth ; 
Her footsteps never thence again shall grace 
The blue sublime of heaven. Her grave is dug. 
I see the stars, night-clad, all gathering 
In long and dark procession. Death 's at work. 
And, one by one, shall all yon wandering worlds, 
"Whether in orbed path they roll, or trail, 
Li an inestimable length of light, 
Their golden train of tresses after them, 
Cease ; and the sun, centre and sire of light. 
The keystone of the world-built arch of heaven 
Be left in burning solitude. The .stars, 
Wliich stand as thick as dewdrops on the fields 
Of heaven, and all they comprehend, shall pass. 



FESTUS. 27 

The spirits of all worlds shall all depart 
To their great destinies ; and thou and I, 
Greater in grief than worlds, shall live as noAV. 
In hell's dark annals there is something writ, 
AVhich shall amaze man yet. There ! to thy earth ! 

Ajjgel of Earth. There is a blind world, yet 
unlit by God, 
Rolling around the extremest edge of light ; 
Where all things are disaster and decay, 
The outcast of all being ; no one thing 
Fittiiis: another : that is fit for thee. 
Be that thy world ! but not the living earth. 
Stretch forth Thy shining shield, oh God ! the heavens. 
Over the prostrate earth, an armed friend, 
And save her from the swift and violent hell 
Her beauty hath enchanted ! from the wrath 
Of love like his, oh save her, though by death ! 

God. 
Destruction and salvation are the hands 
Upon the face of time. "SYhen both unite. 
The day of death dawns. Every orb exists 
Unto its preappointed end : and earth, 
My creature, the elect of worlds, ere all 
Is saved. The world shall perish as a worm 
Upon destruction's path ; the universe 
Evanish like a ghost before the sun. 
Yea like a doubt before the truth of God, 
Yet nothing more than death shall perish. Then, 
Rejoice ye souls of God, regenerate, 
Ye indwellers divine of Deity ; 
In Him ye are immortal as Himself! [change, 

Son of God. O'er all things are eternity and 
And special predilection of our God. 
Thou who Greatest souls, as the sun clouds, 
Out of the sea of spirit, sire of both 



28 FESTUS. 

The first and second natures of Thy Son, 

In whom the maker and the made make one, 

Deific spirit ! who in every world 

Payeth creation's penalties ; in all, 

Is heir of God and nature, and in Thee, 

And in self- worship, Deifies himself ! 

And you blest spirits for whom I died, for whom, 

Forefated, fore-atoned for from the first. 

All heaven reserves the fulhiess of its bliss ; 

Creator and created ! witness, both. 

How I have loved ye, as God-natured life 

Alone can love and suffer ! Let the earth 

And every orb, the offspring of all air, 

Perish ; but all I die for, live for me. 

God. 
The earth shall not be when her sabbath ends, 
In the high close of order. 

Lucifer. Heaven, farewell ! 
Hell is more bearable than nothingness. 

Thrones. Thou, God, art Lord of mercy ! and 
Thy thoughts 
Ai^e high above the star-dust of the world ! [Thou 

Dominations. Yet o'er the meanest atom reignest 
Omnipotent, as o'er the universe ! [works. 

Powers. Thy might is self-creative, and Thy 
Immortal, temporal, destructible, 
Are ever in Thy sight and blessed there ! 
The heavens are Thy bosom, and Thine eye 
Is high o'er all existence ; yea the worlds 
Are but Thy shining foot-prints upon space ! 

Princedoms. Eternal Lord! Thy strength com- 
pels the worlds. 
And bows the heads of ages ; at Thy voice 
Their unsubstantial essence wears away. 

Virtues. All-favouring God! we glory but in Thee. 



FESTUS. 29 

Ye Heavens exalt, expand yourselves ! they come, 
The infinite generations, all Divine, 
Of Deity, our brethren and our friends ! 

Archangels. Thou who hast thousand names, 
as night hath stars. 
Which light Thee up to eye create, yet not 
One thousandth part illumine Thy boundlessness. 
Nor that abyss of Being 'midst of which 
Thy countless wonders constellate themselves ; 
Thy light, the light we dwell in shall at last 
Fulfil the universe, and all be bliss ; 
The consummation of all ages come. 
We praise Thee for Thy mercies, and for this. 
The first, and last, and greatest of all boons. 
Angels. Thee God ! we praise 

Through our ne'er sunsetting days, 

And Thy just ways. 

Divine : 

In Thy ban's is every spirit, 

And the meed the same may merit ; 

All which all the worlds inherit 

Are Thine ! 

It is not unto creatures given 

To scale the purposes of Heaven, 

Alway just and kind ; 

But before Thy mighty breath. 

Life and spirit, dust and death, 

The boundless All is driven. 

Like clouds by wind. 
Angel of Eakth. Woe ! woe at last in Heaven I 

Earth to death is given ; 

The ends of things hang still 

Over them as a sky ; 

Do what we will. 

All 's for eternity ! 




FESTUS. 

Scene — Wood and Water — Sunset. 
Festus alone. 



Festus. This is to be a mortal and immortal ! 
To live within a circle, — and to be 
That dark point where the shades of all things around 
Meet, mix and deepen. All things unto me 
Shew their dark sides ! somewhere there must be hsjht. 
Oh ! I feel like a seed in the cold earth ; 
Quickening at heart, and pining for the air ! 
Passion is destiny. The heart is its own 
Fate. It is well youth's gold rubs off so soon. 
The heart gets dizzy with its drunken dance, 
And the voluptuous vanities of life 
Enchain, enchant, and cheat my soul no more. 
My spirit is on edge. I can enjoy 
Nought which has not the honied sting of sin ; 
That soothing fret which makes the young untried, 
Longing to be beforehand with their nature. 
In dreams and loneness cry, they die to live ; 
That wanton whetting of the soul, which while 
It gives a finer, keener edge for pleasure, 
"Wastes more and dulls the sooner. Rouse thee, heart ; 
Bow of my life thou yet art full of spring ! 
My quiver still hath many purposes. 
Yet what is worth a thought of all things here ? 
How mean, how miserable every care ! 
How doubtful, too, the system of the mind ! 
And then the ceaseless, changeless, hopeless round 
Of weariness and heartlessness and woe 
And vice and vanity ! Yet these make life ; 
The life at least I witness if not feel. 
No matter ! we are immortal. How I wish 



FESTUS. 31 

I could love men ! for amid all life's quests 

There seems but worthy one — to do men good. 

It matters not how long we live but how. 

For as the parts of one manhood ^^'hile here 

We live in every age : we think and feel 

And feed upon the coming and the gone 

As much as on the now time. Man is one : 

And he hath one great heart. It is thus we feel, 

With a gigantic throb athwart the sea, 

Each others' rights and wrongs ; thus are we men. 

Let ufi think less of men and more of God ! 

Sometimes the thought comes swiftening over us. 

Like a small bird winging the still blue air ; 

And then again, at other times, it rises 

Slow, like a cloud which scales the skies all breathless. 

And just over head lets itself down on us. 

Sometimes we feel the wish across the mind 

Rush, like a rocket tearing up the sky. 

That we should join with God and give the world 

The slif) : but while we wish, the world turns round, 

And peeps us in the face — the wanton world ; 

We feel it gently pressing down our arm — 

The arm we had raised to do for truth such wonders ; 

We feel it softly bearing on our side — 

We feel it touch and thrill us through the body — 

And we are fools and there 's an end of us. 

'T is a fine thought that sometime end we must. 

There sets the sun of suns ! dies in all fire. 

Like Asher's death-great monarch. God of might ! 

We love and live on power. It is spirit's end. 

Mind must subdue. To conquer is its life. 

Wliy mad'st Thou not one spirit, like the sun. 

To king the world ? And oh ! might I have been 

That sun-mind, how I would have warmed the world 

To love and worship and bright life ! 



32 FESTUS. 

Lucifer, suddenly appearing. Kot thou ! 

Hadst thou more power the more wouldst thou misuse. 

Festus. Who art thou, pray ? I saw thee not before. 
It seems as thou hadst grown out of the air. 

Lucifer. Thou knowest me welh Though stranger 
to thine eye, 
T am not to thy heart. 

Festus. I know thee not. 

Lucifer. Come nearer ! Look on me ! I am 
above thee ; 
Beneath thee, and around thee, and before thee. 

Festus. Why, art thou all things, or dost go 
A spirit, or embodied blast of air ? [through all ? 
I feel thou art a spirit. 

Lucifer. Yea I am. 

Festus. I knew it ! I am glad, yet tremble so. 
What hours upon hours have I longed for this. 
And hoped that thought or prayer might produce ! 
I have besought the stars, with tears, to send 
A power unto me ; and have set the clouds 
Until I thought I saw one coming : but 
The shadowy giant alway thinned away, 
And I was fated unimmortalized. 
What shall I do ? Oh ! let me kneel to thee ! 

Lucifer. Nay, rise ! and I '11 not say, for thine 
own sake, 
That thou dost pray in private to the Devil. 

Festus. Father of lies thou liest ! 

Lucifer. I am he ! 

It is enough to make the Devil merry. 
To think that men call on me momently, 
Deeming me ever dungeoned fast in Hell ; 
Swearers and swaggerers jeer at my name ; 
And oft indeed it is a special jest 
With witling gallants. Let me once appear ! 



FESTUS. 33 

Woe 's me ! they faint and shudder — pale and pray ; 
The burning oath which quivered on the Hp, 
Starts back and sears and blisters up the tongue ; 
Confusion ransacks the abandoned heart, 
Quells the bold blood, and o'er the vaulted brow- 
Slips the white woman-hand. To judgment, ho ! 
The very pivot of the earth seems snapped ; 
And do\^'^l they drop like ruins to repent. 
Such be the bravery of mighty man ! 

Festus. I must be mad ; or mine eye cheats my 
• brain; 
And this strange phantom comes from overthought, 
Like the white lightning from a day too hot. 
It must be so. But I will pass it. 

Lucifer. Stay ! 

Festus. Oh save me God ! He is reality ! 

LuciFEK. And now thou kneel'st to Heaven. 
Fye, graceless boy ! 
Mocking thy Maker with a cast-off prayer ; 
For had not I the first fruits of thy faith ? 

Festus. Tempter, away ! From all the crowds of life 
Why single me ? Why score the young green bole 
For fellage ? Go ! Am I the youngest, worst ? 
No ! Light the fires of hell with other souls ; 
Mine shall not burn with thee. 

Lucifer. Thou judgest harshly. 

Can I not touch thee without slaying thee ? 

Festus. Why art thou here ? What wouldst thou 
have with me ? [looks. 

Lucifer. 'Fore all I would have gentle words and 

Festus. I pray thee, go ! 

Lucifer. I cannot quit thee yet. 
But why so sad ? Wilt kneel to me again ? 
This leafy closet is most apt for prayer. 

Festus. Yes ; I -will pray for thee and for myself. 
3 



54 FESTUS. 

Lucifer. Waste not thy prayers ! I scatter them : 
they reach 
No further than thy breath — a yard or so. 
And as for me, I heed them, need them not. 
My nature God knows and hath fixed ; and He 
Recks little of the manners of the world ; 
Wicked He holdeth it and unrepentant. 

Festus. Therefore the more some ought to pray 

Lucifer. To blow 

A kiss, a bubble and a prayer hath like 
Effect and satisfaction. 

Festus. Let me hence ! 

Go tell thy blasphemies and lies elsewhere. 
Thou scatter prayer ! Make me Thy minister 
One moment God ! that I may rid the world 
For ever of its evil. Oh ! Thine arm ! 

Lucifer. Canst rid thyself? 

Festus. Alas no. Get thee gone I 

Can nought insult thee nor provoke thy flight ? 

Lucifer. I laugh alike at ruin and redemption. 
1 am the one which knows nor hope nor fear ; 
Which ne'er knew good nor e'er can know the worst. 
What thinkest thou can anger me, or harm ? 

Festus. Wherefore didst thou quit Hell? To 
drag me there ? [Deem'st thou aught 

Lucifer. Thou wilt not guess mine errand. 
Which God hath made all evil ? Me He made. 
Oft I do good ; and thee to serve I come. [breath 

Festus. Did I not hear thee boast with thy last 
Not to have known what good was ? 

Lucifer. From myself 

1 know it not ; yet God's will I must work. 
I come I say to serve thee. 

Festus. Well ! I would 

Thou never hadst : but speak thy purpose straight. 



FESTUS. 35 

LuciFEK. I lieard tliy prayer at sunset. I was here. 
I saw thy secret longings, unsaid thoughts, 
Which prey upon the breast like night-fires on 
A heath. I know thy heart by heart. I read 
The tongue when still as well as when it moves. 
And thou didst pray to God. Did He attend ? 
Or turn His eye from the great glass of things, 
"Wherein He worshippeth eternally 
Himself, to thee one moment ? He did not. 
I tell thee nought He cares for men. I came 
And come to proffer thee the earth ; to set 
Thee on a throne — the throne of Avill unbound — 
To crown thy life with liberty and joy, 
And make thee free and mighty even as I am ! 

Festus. I would not be as thou art for Hell's throne ; 
Add Earth's — add Heaven's ! 

Ltjcifer. I knew thy proud high heart. 

To test its worth and mark I held it brave. 
In shape and being thus myself I came ; 
JNot in disguise of opportunity — 
Not as some silly toy which serves for most — 
Not in the mask of lucre, lust nor power — 
Not in a goblin size nor cherub form — 
But as the soul of Hell and evil came I 
"With leave to o;ive the kins^dom of the world — 
The freedom of thyself. 

Festus. Good ; prove thy powers. 

Lucifer. Do I not prove them? Who but I, 
that have 
Immortal might o'er mine own mind, and o'er 
All hearts and spirits of the living world, 
Would share it with another, or forgo, 
One hour, the great enjoyment of the whole ? 
And who but I give men what each loves best ? 

Festus. Open the Heavens and let me look on God ! ' 



36 FESTUS. 

Open my heart and let me see myself ! 
Then I'll believe thee. 

Lucifer. Thou shalt not believe 

For that I give thee, but for that I am. 
Believe me first ; then I will prove myself. 
Though sick I know thee of the joys of sense, 
Yet those thou lovest most I will make pure, 
And render worthy of thy love ; unfilm them, 
That so thou mayst not dally with the blind. 
Thou shalt possess them to their very souls. 
Pleasure and love and uniraagined beauty ; 
All, all that be delicious, brilliant, great, 
Of worldly things are mine, and mine to give. 

Festus. What can be counted pleasure after love ? 
Like the young lion which hath once lapped blood, 
The heart can ne'er be coaxed back to aught else. 

Lucifer. I will sublime it for thee all to bliss : 
As yet it hath but made thee wretched. 

Festus. Spirit, 

It is not bliss I seek ; I care not for it. 
I am above the low delights of life. 
The life I live is in a dark cold cavern, 
"Where I wander up and down, feeling for something 
Which is to be — and must be — what, I know not ; 
But the incarnation of my destiny 
Is nigh.' 

Lucifer. It is thy fate which weighs upon thee 
Necessity sits on humanity. 
Like to the world on Atlas neck. 'T is this, 
And the sultry sense of overdrawn life. 

Festus. True ; 

The worm of the world hath eaten out my heart. 

Lucifer. I will renew it in thee. It shall be 
The bosom favourite of every beauty. 
Even like a rosebud. Thou shalt render happy, 



FESTUS. 37 

Bj naming who may love thee. Come with me. 

Festcs. I have a love on earth, and one in 
Heaven. 

Lucifer. Thou shalt love ten as others love but one ! 

Festus. Oh ! I was glad when something m me said 
Come, let us worship beauty ! and I bowed ; 
And went about to find a shrine ; but found 
None that my soul, when seeing, said enough, to. 
Many I met with where I put up prayers, 
And had them more than answered ; and at such 
I worsliipped, partly because others did ; 
Partly because I could not help myself. 
But none of these were for me ; and away 
I went champing and choking in proud pain ; 
In a burning wrath that not a sea could slake. 
So I betook me to the sounding sea ; 
And overheard its slumberous mutterings 
Of a revenge on man ; whereat almost 
I gladdened, for I felt savage as the sea. 
I had only one thing to behold, the sea ; 
I had only one thing to believe, I loved ; 
Until that lonesome sameness grew sublime 
And darkly beautiful as death, when some 
Bright soul regains its star-home, or as Heaven 
Just when tlie stars falter forth, one by one, 
Like the first words of love from a maiden's lips. 
There are points from which we can command our life ; 
When the soul sweeps the future like a glass ; 
And coming things, full freighted with our fate, 
Jut out, dark, on the ofiing of the mind. 
Let them come ! Many will go down in sight ; 
In the billow's joyous dash of death go down. 
At last came love ; not whence I sought nor thought it ; 
As on a ruined and bewildered wisrht 
Rises the roof he meant to have lost for ever. 



38 FESTUS. 

On came the living vessel of all love ; 

Terrible in its beauty as a serpent, 

Rode down upon me like a ship full sail 

And bearing me before it, kept me up 

Spite of the drowning speed at which we drave 

On, on, until we sank both. Was not this love ? 

Lucifer. Why, how can I tell ? I am not in lore ; 
But I have oft times heard mine angels call 
IMost piteously on their lost loves in Heaven ; 
And, as I suffer, I have seen them come ; 
Seen starlike faces peep between the clouds, 
And Hell become a tolerable torment. 
Some souls lose all things but the love of beauty ; 
And by that love they are redeemable ; 
For in love and beauty they acknowledge good ; 
And good is God — the great Necessity. 
I have not told thee half I will do for thee. 
All secrets thou shalt ken — all mysteries construe 
At nothing marvel. All the veins which stretch, 
Unsearchable by human eyes, of lore 
Most precious, most profound, to thine shall bare 
And vulgar lie like dust. The world within, 
The world above thee, and the dark domain. 
Mine own thou shalt o'er rule ; and he alone 
Wlio rightly can esteem such high delights. 
He only merits — he alone shall have. 

Festus. And if I have shall I be happier ? 
What is pleasure ? What, happiness ? 

Lucifer. It is that 

I vouchsafe to thee. 

Festus. Am I tempted thus 

Unto my fall ? 

Lucifer. God wills or lets it be. 
How thinkest thou ? 

Festus. That I will go with thee. 



FESTUS. 39 

Lucifer. From God I come. 

Festus. I do believe thee, spirit. 

He will not let thee harm me. Him I love, 
And thee I fear not. I Obey Him. 

Lucifer. Good. 

Both time and case are urgent. Come away! 

Festus. Give me a breathing-time to fortify, 
Within myself, the promise I have made. 

Lucifer. Expect me, then, at midnight, here. 
That thou canst any time repent. [Remember, 

Festus. Ay, true. [ Goes. 

Lucifer. Repentance never yet did aught on earth ; 
It undoes many good things. Of all men. 
Heaven shield me from the wretch who can repent ! 



Scene — Water and Wood — Midnight, 

Festus, alone. 

All tilings are calm, and fair, and passive. Earth 

Looks as if lulled upon an angel's lap 

Into a breathless dewy sleep : so still, 

That we can only say of things, they be ! 

The lakelet now, no longer vexed with gusts. 

Replaces on her breast the pictured moon 

Pearled round with stars. Sweet imaged scene of time 

To come, perchance, when this vain life o'erspent, 

Earth may some purer beings' presence bear ; 

Mayhap even God may walk among His saints. 

In eminence and brightness like yon moon, 

Mildly outbeaming all the beads of light 

Strung o'er night's proud dark brow. How strangely 

fair 
Yon round still star, which looks half suffering from. 



40 FESTUS. 

And half rejoicing in its own strong fire ; 
Making itself a lonelihood of light, 
Like Deity, where'er in Heaven it dwells. 
How can the beauty of material things 
So win the heart and work upon the mind. 
Unless like-natured with them ? Are great things 
And thoughts of the same blood ? They have like 
effect. [ we call 

Lucifer. Why doubt on mind ? What matter how 
That which all feel to be their noblest part ? 
Even spirits have a better and a worse : 
For every thing created must have form. 
Passions they have, somewhat like thine ; but less 
Of grossness and that downwardness of soul 
Which men have. It is true they have no earth •, 
For what they live on is above themselves. 

Festus. There seems a sameness among things ; 
for mind 
And matter speak, in causes, of one God. 
The inward and the outward worlds are like ; 
The pure and gross but differ in degree. 
Tears, feeling's bright embodied form, are not 
More pure than dewdrops, Nature's tears, which she 
Sheds in her own breast for the fair which die. 
The sun insists on gladness ; but at night, 
When he is gone, poor Nature loves to weep. 

Lucifer. There is less real difference among things 
Than men imagine. They overlook the mass, 
But fasten each on some particular crumb, 
Because they feel that they can equal that, 
Of doctrine, or belief, or party cause. 

Festus. That is the madness of the world — and that 
Would I remove. 

Lucifer. It is imbecility, 

Not madness. 



FESTUS. 41 

Festus. Oh ! the brave and good who serve 

A worthy cause can only one way fail ; 
By perishing therein. Is it to fail ? 
No ; every great or good man's death is a step 
Firm set towards their end — the end of being ; 
Which is the good of all and love of God. 
The world must have great minds, even as great spheres 
Or suns, to govern lesser restless minds, 
While they stand still and burn with life ; to keep 
Them in their places, and to light and heat them. 
If I desire immortal life for aught, 
It is to learn the mystery of mmd 
And somewhat more of God. Let others rule 
Systems or succour saints, if such things please ; 
To live like light or die in light like dew, 
Either ! I should be blest. 

Lucifer. It may not be. 

For as we do not see the sun himself, 
It is but the light about him, like a ring 
Of glory round the forehead of a saint, so 
God thou wilt never see. His unveiled love 
Were terrible, too much for man to meet. [ hath 

Festus. Men have a claim on God ; and none who 
A heart of kindness, reverence and love, 
But dare look God in the face and ask His smUe. 
He dwells in no fierce light — no cloud of flame ; 
And if it were, Faith's eye can look through Hell, 
And through the solid world. We must all think 
On God. Yon water must reflect the sky. 
IMidnight ! Day hath too much light for us, 
To see things spiritually. Mind and Night 
Will meet, though in silence, like forbidden lovers, 
With whom to see each other's sacred form 
Must satisfy. The stillness of deep bliss, 
Sound as the silence of the high hill-top 



42 FESTUS. 

"WTiere thunder finds no echo — like God's voice 
Upon the worldling's proud, cold, rocky heart — 
Fills full the sky ; and the eye shares with Heaven 
That look, so like to feeling, which the bright 
And glorious things of Nature ever wear. 
There is much to think and feel of things beyond 
This earth ; which lie, as we deem, upwards — far 
From the day's glare and riot — they are Night's ! 
Oh ! could we lift the future's sable shroud ! 

Lucifer. Behind a shroud what shouldst thou 
see but death ? 

Festus. Spirit is like the thread whereon are strung 
The beads or worlds of life. It may be here, 
It may be there that I shall live again ; 
In yon strange world whose long nights know no star, 
But seven fair maidlike moons attending him 
Perfect his sky — perchance in one of those — 
But live again I shall wherever it be. 
"We long to learn the future — love to guess. 

Lucifer. The science of the future is to man, 
But what the shadow of the wind might be. 
Such thoughts are vain and useless. 

Festus. Forced on us. 

Lucifer. All things are of necessity. 

Festus. Then best. 

But the good are never fatalists. The bad 
Alone act by necessity, they say. 

Lucifer. It matters not what men assume to be ; 
Or good, or bad, they are but what they are. 

Festus. What is necessity ? Are we, and thou. 
And all the worlds, and the whole infinite 
We cannot see, but workinsj out God's thouofhts? 
And have we no self-action ? Are all God ? 

Lucifer. Then hath He sin and all absurdity. 

Festus. Yet, if created Being have free-will, 



FESTUS. 43 

Is it not wrong to judge it may traverse 
God's own high will, and yet impossible 
To think on't otherwise ? 

Lucifer. It may be so. 

All creature wills, and all their ends and powers 
Must come within the boundless scope of God's. 

Festus. And all our powers are but weaknesses 
To what we shall have, and to that God hath. 
Doth not the wish, too, point the likelihood 
Of life to come ? 

Lucifer. Boys wish that they were kings. 

And so with thee. A deathless spirit's state, 
Freed from gross form and bodily weightiness, 
Seems kingly by the side of souls like thine. 
And boys and men will likely both be balked. 
What if it be, that spirit, after death, 
Is loosed like flesh into its elements ? 
The worlds which man hath constellated, hold 
No fellowship in nature ; nor perchance 
As he hath systematised life, mind and soul. 
But sooth to say, I know not aught of this. 
I have no kind. No nature like to me 
Exists. And human spirits must at least 
Sleep till the day of doom, if it ever be. 

Festus. Hast never known one free from body?, 

Lucifer. None. 

Festus. Why seek then to destroy them ? 

Lucifer. It is my part. 

Let ruin bury ruin. Let it be 
Woe here, woe there, woe, woe, be everywhere ! 
It is not for me to know, nor thee, the end 
Of evil. I inflict and thou must bear. 
The arrow knoweth not its end and aim. 
And I keep rushing, ruining along 
Like a great river rich with dead men's souls. 



44 FESTUS. 

For if I knew, I miglit rejoice ; and that 
To me by Nature is forbidden. I know 
Nor joy nor sorrow ; but a changeless tone 
Of sadness like the nightwind's is the strain 
Of what I have of feeling. I am not 
As other spirits, — but a solitude 
Even to myself; I the sole spirit sole. 

Festus. Can none of thine immortals answer me :' 

Lucifer. None, mortal ! 

Festus. Where then is thy vaunted power ? 

Lucifer. It is better seen as thus I stand apart 
From all. Mortality is mine — the green 
Unripened universe. But as the fruit 
Matures, and world by world drops mellowed off 
The wrinkUng stalk of Time, as thine own race 
Hath seen of stars now vanished — all is hid 
From me. My part is done. What after comes 
I know not more than thou. 

Festus. Raise me a spirit ! 

Awake ye dead ! out with the secret, death ! 
The grave hath no pride nor the rise-again. 
Let each one brinc^ the bane whereof he died. 
Brino; the man his, the maiden hers I Oh ! half 
Mankind are murderers of themselves or souls. 
Yea, what is life but lingering suicide ? 
Wake, dead ! Ye know the truth ; yet there ye lie 
All mingling, mouldering, perishing together 
Like run sand in the hour-glass of old Time. 
Death is the mad world's asylum. There is peace ; 
Destruction's quiet and equality. 
Night brings out stars as sorrow shews us truths : 
Though many, yet they help not ; bright, they light not. 
They are too late to serve us : and sad things 
Are aye too true. We never see the stars 
Till we can see nought but them. So with truth. 



FESTUS. 45 

And yet if one would look down a deep well, 
Even at noon, we might see those same stars 
Far fairer than the blinding blue — the truth ; 
Probe the profound of thine own nature, man ! 
And thou may'st see reflected, e'en in life. 
The worlds, the Heavens, the ages ; by and by. 
The coming come. Then welcome, world-eyed Truth I 
But there are other eyes men better love 
Than Truth's : for when we have her she is so cold, 
And proud, we know not what to do with her. 
Wer cannot understand her, cannot teach; 
She makes us love her, but she loves not us ; 
And quits us as she came and looks back never. 
Wherefore we fly to Fiction's warm embrace, 
With her to relax and bask ourselves at ease ; 
And, in her loving and unhindering lap 
Voluptuously lulled, we dream at most 
On death and truth : she knows them, loves them not ; 
Therefore we hate them and deny them both. 
Call up the dead ! 

Lucifer. Let rest while rest they may ! 

For free from pain and from this world's wear and tear 
It may be a relief to them to rot ; 
And it must be that at the day of doom. 
If mortals should take up immortal life. 
They will curse me with a thunder which shall shake 
The sun from out the socket of his sphere. 
The curse of all created. Think on it ! 

Festus. Those souls thou mean'st whom thcu 
hast ruined, damned. [bloom 

Lucifer. Nor only those ; when once the virgin 
Of soul is soiled — and rudely hath my hand 
Swept o'er the swelling clusters of all life — 
Little it matters whether crushed or touched 
Scarcely : each speaks the spoiler hath been there. 



4G FESTUS. 

The saved, the lost, shall curse me both alike : 
God too shall curse me, and I, I, myself. 
That curse is ever greatening — quick "with hell ; 
The comino; consummation of all woe. 

Festus. man, be happy ! Die and cease for ever ! 
Why wear we not the shroud alway, that robe 
Which speaks our rank on earth, our privilege ? 
To know I have a deathless soul I would lose it. 

Lucifer. Believest thou all I tell thee ? 

Festus. All, I do. 

Stringing the stars at random round her head, 
Like a pearl network, there she sits — briglit night ! 
I love night more than day — she is so lovely. 
But I love night the most because she brings 
My love to me in dreams which scarcely lie ; 
Oh ! all but truth and lovelier oft than truth ! 
Let me have dreams like these, sweet Night, for 

ever, 
When I shall wake no more ; an endless dream 
Of love and holy beauty 'mid the stars. 

Lucifer. I see thy heart and I will grant thy wish. 
I have lied to thee. I have command over spirits. 
Wliom wilt thou that I call ? 

Festus. Mine Angela ! 

Lucifer. There is an Angel ever by thine hand. 
What seest thou ? 

Festus. It is my love ! It is she ! 

My glory ! spirit ! beauty, let me touch thee. 
Nay, do not shrink back : well then I am wrong : 
Thou didst not use to shrink from me, my love. 
Angela ! dost thou hear me ? Speak to me. 
And thou art there — looking alive and dead. 
Thy beauty is then incorruptible. 
I thought so, oft as I have looked on thee. 
Thou art too much even now for me as once. 



FESTUS. 47 

I cannot gatlier what I raved to say ; 

Nor why I had thee hither. Stay, sweet sprite I 

Dear art thou to me now, as in that hour 

When first Love's wave of feeling, spray-like broke 

Into bright utterance, and we said we loved. 

Yea, but I must come to thee. Move no more ! 

Art thou in death or Heaven or from the stars ? 

Have I done wrong in calling for thee thus ? 

What art thou ? Speak, love ; whisper me as wont 

In the dear times gone bye ; or durst thou not 

Unfold the mystery of thine and mine 

Own being ? Was it Death who hushed thy lips ? 

Is his cold finger there still ? Let me come 1 « 

She is not ! 

LuciFEE. And thou canst not bring her back. 

Festus. I will not, cannot be without her. Call 
her ! 

Lucifer. I call on spirits and I make them come : 
But they depart according to their own will. 
Another time and she shall speak with thee — 
Ere long — and she shall shew thee where she dwells, 
And how doth pass her immortality ; — 
If lengthening decay can so be called. 
Can lines finite one way be infinite 
Another ? And yet such is deathlessness. 

Festus. It is hard to deem that spirits cease, 
that thought 
And feeling flesh-like perish in the dust. 
Shall we know those again in a future state 
Whom we have knoA/n and loved on earth ? Say 
yes! 

Lucifer. The mind hath features as the body hath. 

Festus. But is it mind which shall rerise ? 

Lucifer. Man were 

Not man without the mind he had in life. 



48 FESTUS. 

Festus. Shall all defects of mind and fallacies 
Of feeling be immortalized ? all needs, 
All joys, all sorrows, be again gone through, 
Before the final crisis be imposed ? 
Shall Heaven but be old earth created new ? 
Or earth, treelike, transplanted into Heaven, 
To flourish by the waters of all life, 
And we within its shade, as heretofore. 
Cropping its fruit, with life-seeds cored at heart ? 

Lucifer. Man's nature, physical and psychical, 
Will be together raised, changed, glorified ; 
And all shall be alike, like God ; and all 
Unlike each other, and themselves. The earth 
Shall vanish from the thoughts of those she bore. 
As have the idols of the olden time 
From men's hearts of the present. All delight 
And all desire, shall be with Heavenly things, 
And the new nature God bestowed on man. 

Festus. Then man shall be no more man, but 
an Angel. [remains, — 

Lucifer. When he is dead and buried. What 
That such an obscure, contradictory, thing 
Should be perpetuated anywhere ? 

Festus. Oh ! if God hates the flesh, why made He it 
So beautiful that e'en its semblance maddens ? 
Am I to credit what I think I have seen ? 
Or am I suffering some deceit of thine ? 

Lucifer. I am explaining, not deluding. 

Festus. True. 

Defining night by darkness, death by dust. 
I run the gauntlet of a file of doubts, 
Each one of which down hurls me to the ground. 
I ask a hundred reasons what they mean. 
And every one points gravely to the ground, 
With one hand, and to Heaven with the other. 



FESTUS. 49 

In vain I shut mine eyes. Truth's burning beam 
Forces them open, and when open, blinds them. 
Lucifer. Doublj unhappy ! 
Festus. I am too unhappy 

To die ; as some too way-worn cannot sleep. 
Planets and suns, that set themselves on fire 
By their own rapid self-revolvements, are 
But like some hearts. Existence I despise. 
The shape of man is wearisome ; a bird's, 
A. worm's — a whirlwind's, I would change with 
aught. [this ! 

rime ! dash thine hour-glass down. Have done with 
The course of Nature seems a course of Death, 
And nothingness the sole substantial thing. 

Lucifer. Corruption springs from Light : 't is 
the same power 
Creates, preserves, destroys : the matter which 
[t works on, being one ever-changing form, — 
The living and the dying and the dead. [known. 

Festus. I'll not believe a thing which I have 
Hell was made hell for me, and I am mad. 

Lucifer. True venom churns the froth out of 
the lips ; 
It works, and works like any waterwheel. 
And she then was the maiden of thy heart. 
"Well, I have promised. Ye shall meet again. 

Festus. I loved her for that she was beautiful ; 
And that to me she seemed to be all nature 
And all varieties of things in one : 
"Would set at night in clouds of tears, and rise 
All light and laughter in the morning : yea, 
And that she never schooled within her breast 
One thought or feeling, but gave holiday 
To all ; and that she made all even mine 
In the communion of love : and we 
4 



, 50 FESTUS. 

Grew like each other for we loved each other — 
She, mild and generous as the sun in spring ; 
And I, like earth all budding out with love. 

Lucifer. And then, love's old end, falsehood 
nothing worse 
I hope ? 

Festus. What 's worse than falsehood ? to deny 
The god which is within us, and in all 
Is love ? Love hath as many vanities 
As charms ; and this, perchance, the chief of both : 
To make our young heart's track upon the first, 
And snowlike fall of feeling which overspreads 
The bosom of the youthful maiden's mind. 
More pure and fair than even its outward type. 
If one did thus, was it from vanity ? 
Or thoughtlessness, or worse ? Nay, let it pass. 
The beautiful are never desolate ; 
But some one alway loves them — God or man. 
If man abandons, God himself takes them. 
And thus it was. She whom I once loved died. 
The lightning loathes its cloud — the soul its clay. 
Can I forget that hand I took in mine, 
Pale as pale violets ; that eye, where mind 
And matter met alike divine ? ah, no ! 
May God that moment judge me when I do ! 
Oh ! she was fair : her nature once all sprmg, 
And deadly beauty like a maiden sword ; 
Startlingly beautiful. I see her now ! 
Whatever thou art thy soul is in my mind ; 
Thy shadow hourly lengthens o'er my brain, 
And peoples all its pictures with thyself. 
Gone, not forgot — passed, not lost — thou shalt shine 
In Heaven like a bright spot in the sun ! 
She said she wished to die, and so she died ; 
For, cloudlike, she poured out her love, which was 



FESTUS. 51 

Her life, to freshen this parched heart. It was thus : 
I said we were to part, but she said nothing. 
There was no discord — it was music ceased — 
Life's thrilling, bounding, bursting joy. She sate 
Like a house-god, her hands fixed on her knee ; 
And her dark hair lay loose and long around her, 
Through which her wild bright eye flashed like 

flint. 
She spake not, moved not, but she looked the more, 
As if her eye were action, speech and feeling. 
I felt ft all ; and came and knelt beside her. 
The electric touch solved both our souls together. 
Then comes the feeling which unmakes, undoes ; 
Wliich tears the sealike soul up by the roots 
And lashes it in scorn a2;ainst the skies. 
Twice did I madly swear to God, hand clenched, 
That not even He nor death should tear her from me- 
lt is the saddest and the sorest sidit 
One's own love w^eeping ; — but why call on God, 
But that the feeling of the boundless bounds 
All feeling, as the welkin doth the world ? 
It is this which ones us with the whole and God. 
Then first we wept ; then closed and clung together ; 
And my heart shook this building of my breast, 
Like a live engine booming up and down. 
She fell upon me like a snow-wreath thawing. 
Never were bliss and beauty, love and woe. 
Ravelled and twined together into madness. 
As in that one wild hour ; to which all else. 
The past, is but a picture — that alone 
Is real, and for ever there in front ; 
Making a black blank on one side of life 
Like a blind eye. But after that I left her : 
And only saw her once again ali""'. 
LuciFEK. Well, shall we go ? 



52 FESTUS. 

Festus. This moment. I am ready. 

Farewell je clear old walks and trees ! farewell 
Ye waters ! I have loved ye well. In youth 
And childhood it hath been my life to drift 
Across ye lightly as a leaf; or skim 
Your waves in yon skiff, swallowlike ; or lie 
Like a loved locket on your sunny bosom. 
Could I, like you, by looking in myself 
Find mine own Heaven — farewell ! Immortal, come ! 
The morning peeps her blue eye on the east. 

Lucifer. Think not so fondly as thy foolish race, 
Imagining a Heaven from things without ; 
The picture on the passing wave call Heaven — 
The wavelet, life — the sands beneath it, death ; 
Daily more seen till, lo ! the bed is bare. 
This fancy fools the world. 

Festus. Let us away ! 

Scene — A Mountain — Sunrise. 

Festus and Lucifer. 

[laU 
Festus. Hail beauteous Earth ! Gazing o'er thee, 

Foro-et the bounds of bein"; ; and I lonor 

To fill thee, as a lover pines to blend 

Soul, passion, yea existence, with the fair 

Creature he calls his own. I ask for nought 

Before or after death but this, — to lie, 

And look, and live, and bask, and bless myself 

Upon thy broad bright bosom. From thee I 

Sprang, and to thee I turn, heart, arm and brain. 

Yes, I am all thine own. Thou art the sole 

Parent. To rock and river, plain and wood 

I cry, ye are my kin. While I, O Earth ! 

Am but an atom of thee, and a breath, 



FESTUS. 53 

Passing unseen and unrecorded like 

The tiny throb here in my temple's pulse. 

Thou art for ever and the sacred bride 

Of heaven, — worthy the passion of our God. 

! full of light, love, grace ! — the grace of all 
"Who owe to thee their Ufe ; thy Maker's love ; 
His face's light. All thine rejoice in thee ; 
Thou in thyself for aye ; rolling through air 
As seraphs' song out of their trumpet lips 
Rolls round the skies of Heaven. See the sun ! 
God*5 crest upon His azure shield the Heavens. 
Canst thou, a spirit, look upon him ? 

LuciFEK. Ay. 

1 led him from the void, where he was wrought, 
By this right hand, up to the glorious seat 

His brightness overshadows ; built his throne 

On piles of gold ; and laid his chambers on 

Beams of gold : wrapped a veil of fire around 

His face ; and bade him reign and burn like me. 

There, ever since, sat warming into life 

These worlds as in a nest, he has and is. 

But fall he must. I have done, do, nought else 

From my first thought to this and to my last. 

No matter ; it is beneath this mind of mine 

To reck of aught. I bear, have borne the ill 

Of ages, of eternities — and must. 

I care not. I shall sway the world as now, 

Which worse and worse sinks with me as I sink, 

Till finite souls evanish as a vapour ; 

Till immortality, the proud thing, perish ; 

And God alone be and eternity. 

Then will I clap my hands and cry to Him, [Thee. 

I have done ! Have Thy will now ! There is none but 

I am the first created being. I 

Will be the last to i^erish and to die. 



54 FESTUS. 

Festus. Thou art a fit monitor, methinks, of 
pleasure. 

Lucifer. To the high air sunshine and cloud are one ; 
Pleasure and pain to me. Thou and the earth 
Alone feel these as different — for Ye 
Are under them — the Heavens and I above. 

Festus. But tell me, have ye scenes like this in 
Hell ? 

Lucifer. Nay, not in Heaven. 

Festus. What is Heaven ? not the toys 

Of singing, love and music ? such a place 
Were fit for women only. 

Lucifer. Heaven is no place ; 

Unless it be a place with God, allwhere. 
It is the being good — the knowing God — 
The consciousness of happiness and power ; 
With knowledge which no spirit e'er can lose 
But doth increase in every state ; and aught 
It most delights in the full leave to do. 
But why cons'ume me with such questions ? Why 
Add earth to Hell, in the great chain of worlds 
Which God in wrath hath bound about me ? 

Festus. Why! 

'Twas therefore that I closed with thee, great Fiend ! 
That thou mightst answer all things I proposed, 
Or bring me those who would do. 

Lucifer. All these thinjjs 

Thou wilt know sometime, when to see and know 
Are one ; to see a thing and comprehend 
The nature of it essentially ; perceive 
The reason and the science of its being, 
And the relations with the universe 
Of all things actual or possible, 
IMortal, immortal, spiritual, gross. 
This, when the spirit is made free of Heaven, 



o^ 



FESTUS. 55 

Is the divine result ; proportioned still 

To the intelligence as human ; for 

There are degrees in Heaven as everything, 

By God's will. Unimaginable space 

As full of suns as is earth's sun of atoms, 

Faileth to match His boundless variousness ; 

And ever must do, though a thousand worlds. 

As diverse from each other as is thine 

From any of thy system's, were elanced 

Each minute into life unendingly. 

All of yon worlds, and all who dwell in them, 

Stand in diverse degrees of bliss and being. 

Through the ten thousand times ten thousandth 

grade 
Of blessedness, above this world's and man's 
Ability to feel or to conceive, 

The soul may pass and yet know nought of Heaven, 
More than a dim and miniature reflection 
Of its most bright infinity ; — for God 
Makes to each spirit its peculiar Heaven ; — 
And yet is Heaven a bright reality, 
As this or any of yon worlds ; a state 
Where all is loveliness and power and love ; 
Where all sublimest qualities of mind, 
Not infinite, are limited alone 
By the surrounding Godhood, and where nought 
But what produceth glory and delight, 
To creature and Creator is ; where all 
Enjoy entire dominion o'er themselves. 
Acts, feelings, thoughts, conditions, qualities. 
Spirit and soul and mind ; all under God, 
For spirit is soul Deified ; — while earth. 
To the immortal vast, God-natured Spirit, 
Is but a spell, which having served to light, 
A lamp, is cast into consuming fire. 



^ FESTUS. 

Festus. And Hell ? Is it nought but pits and 
chains and flames ? 

Lucifer. An ever greatening sense of ill and woe, 
Aye crushing down the soul, but filling never 
Its infinite capacity of pain. 

Festus. But human nature is not infinite, 
And therefore cannot suffer endlessly. 

Lucifer. God may create in time what shall endure 
Unto Eternity. With Him is no 
Distinction, nor in that which is of Him. 

Festus. Then is not soul of God, but man and earth. 
Soul when made spirit is of earth no more, 
Nor time, but of Eternity and Heaven. 
'Tis but when in the body, and bent down 
To worldly ends, that human souls become 
Objects of time, as most are, till the hour 
Comes when the soul of man shall be made one 
With God's spirit ; and where shall woe be then ? 
Where, sin ? where, suffering ? when the mortal soul 
Shall be Divinised and eternised by 
God's very spirit put upon it ? 

Lucifer. How 

Can souls begotten to predestined doom. 
From and before all worlds, be deemed of earth ; 

Festus. Things spiritual, as belonging God, 
Are known unto Him, and predestined from 
Eternity, nor these alone ; but Flesh 
Forms not nor does it need the care of Fate. 

Lucifer. The object of eternal knowledge must 
Have like existence. 

Festus. Then it cannot be 

Bound unto torment ; that would be to bring 
Torture on godlike essence. 

Lucifer. Hast not heard, 

How thine existence here, on earth, is but 



FESTUS. 57 

Tlie dark and narrow section of a life 
"Which was with God, lo*ng ere the sun was lit, 
And shall be yet, when all the bold bright stars 
Are dark as death-dust — Immortality 
And Wisdom tending thee on either hand, 
Thy divine sisters ? But do thou believe 
E'en what thou wilt. It matters not to me. 

Festus. Is it the nature or the deed of God 
To render finite follies infinite. 
Or to eternise sin and death in fire ? 
For so long as the punishment endures. 
The crime lasts. Were it not for thy presence, 
Spirit ! I would not deem Hell were. 

Lucifer. Let not 

My presence pass for more than it is worth, 
I pray, nor yet my absence. Trust me, I 
Could wish, with thee, that Hell were blotted out 
Of utmost space. 'Tis man himself aye makes 
His own God and his hell. But this is truth. 

Festus. The truth is perilous never to the true, 
Nor knowledge to the wise ; and to the fool. 
And to the false, error and truth alike. 
Error is worse than ignorance. But say : — 
How can eternal punishment be due 
To temporal offences, to a pulse 
Of momentary madness ? 

Lucifer. Pardon me. 

Sin is not temporary. Nothing is. 
Of spiritual nature, but hath cause 
Immortal and immortal end in all. 
As spirits. Therefore till the soul shall be 
By grace redeified, as is the soul, 
So is the sin, for ever before God. 

Festus. Sin is not of the spirit, but of that 
Wliich blindcth spirit, heart and brain. 



58 FESTUS. 

Lucifer. BeKeve so. 

The law of all the worlds is retribution. 

Festus. But is it so of God ? 

Lucifer. The laws of Heaven 

Are not of earth ; there law is liberty. 

Festus. Thou thundercloud of spirits, darkning 
The skies and wrecking earth ! Could I hate men 
How I should joy with thee, even as an eagle, 
Nigh famished, in the fellowship of storms ; 
But I still love them. What will come of men ? 

Lucifer. Whatever may, perdition is their meed. 
Were Heaven dispeopled for a ministry 
To warn them of their ways ; were thou and I 
To monish them ; were Heaven, and Earth, and 

HeU 
To preach at once, they still would mock and jeer 
As now ; but never repent until too late ; 
Until the everlasting hour had struck. 

Festus. Men might be better if we better deemed 
Of them. The worst way to improve the world 
Is to condemn it. Men may overget 
Delusion — not despair. 

Lucifer. Wliy love mankind ? ' 

The aifections are thy system's weaknesses ; 
The wasteful outlets of self-maintenance. [ness, 

Festus. The wild flower's tendril, proof of feeble- 
Proves strength ; and so we fling our feelings out, 
The tendrils of the heart, to bear us up. 
O Earth ! how drear to think to tear oneself, 
Even for an hour, from looks like this of thine ; 
From features, oh ! so fair ; to quit for aye 
The luxury of thy side. Why, why art thou 
Thus glorious, and 'twere not to sate the soul. 
And chide us for the senseless dream of Heaven ? 
The still strong stream sweeps onward to its end, 



FESTUS. 59 

Like one of the great purposes of God ; 

Or like, maj be, a soul like mine to Him. 

Along yon deep blue vein upon thy bosom, 

Earth ? I could float for ever. See it there — 

Winding among its green and smiling isles, 

Like Charity amidst her children dear ; 

Or Peace, rejoicing in her olive wreaths, 

And gladdening as she glides along the lands, [down 

Lucifer. And yet all this must end — mustpass; drop 
Oblivion like a pebble in a pit ; 
For God shall lay His hand upon the earth, 
And crush it up like a red leaf. 

Festus. Not be ? 

I cannot root the thought, nor hold it firm. 

Lucifer. This same sweet world which thou 
wouldst fondly deem 
Eternal, may be ; which I soon shall see 
Destruction suck back as the tide a shell. [again, 

Festus. It will not be yet. I'll woo thee, world. 
And revel in thy loveliness and love. 
I have a heart with room for every joy : 
And since we must part sometime, while I may, 
I '11 quaff the nectar in thy flowers, and press 
The richest clusters of thy luscious fruit 
Into the cup of my desires. I know 
My years are numbered not in units yet. 
But I cannot live unless I love and am loved; 
Unless I have the young and beautiful 
Bound up like pictures in my book of life. 
It is the intensest vanity alone 
Which makes us bear with life. Some seem to live, 
Whose hearts are like those unenlightened stars 
Of the first darkness — lifeless, timeless, useless — 
With nothing but a cold night air about them ; 
Not suns — not planets — darkness organized : 



60 TESTUS. 

Orbs of a desert darkness : with no soul 

To light its watchfire in the wilderness, 

And civilize the solitude one moment. 

There are such seemingly ; but how or why 

They live I know not. This to me is life ; 

That if life be a burden, I will join 

To make it but the burden of a song : 

I hate the world's coarse thought. And this is life ; 

To watch young beauty's budlike feelings burst 

And load the soul with love ; — as that pale flower, 

"Which opes at eve, spreads sudden on the dark 

Its yellow bloom, and sinks the air down with 

sweets. 
Let Heaven take all that 's good — Hell all that 's foul ; 
Leave us the lovely ! and we will ask no more. 

Lucifer. To me it seems time all should end. 
The sky 
Grows gray. It is not so bright nor blue as once. 
"Well I remember, as it were yesterday, 
When earth and Heaven went happy, hand in hand, 
With all the morning dew of youth about them ; 
With the bright unworldly hearts of youth and truth 
And the maiden bosoms of the beautiful : — 
Ere earth sinned, or the pure indignant Heavens 
Retreated high, nigh God ; when earth was all 
A creeping mass alive with shapeless things : 
And when there were but three things in the world — 
Monsters, mountains and water : before age 
Had thickened the eyes of stars ; and while the sea. 
Rejoicing like a ring of saints round God, 
Or Heaven on Heaven about some newborn sun, 
In its sublime samesoundingness, laughed out 
And cried not I ! Like God I never rest. 

Festus. God hath his rest; earth hers. Let 
me have mine. 



FESTUS. 61 

fet must I look on thee, fair scene, again, 

Ere I depart. The glory of the world 

Is on all hands. In one encircling ken, 

I gaze on river, sea, isle, continent, 

JNIountain, and wood, and wild, and fire-lipped hill. 

And lake, and golden plain, and sun, and Heaven, 

"Where the stars brightly die, whose death is day ; 

City and port and palace, ships and tents, 

Lie massed and mapped before me. All is here. 

The elements of the world are at my feet, 

Above me and about me. Now would I 

Be and do somewhat beside that I am. 

Canst thou not give me some ethereal slave. 

Of the pure essence of an element — 

Such as my bondless brain hath oft times drawn 

In the divine insanity of dreams — 

To stand before me and obey me, spirit ? 

Lucifer. Call out, and see if aught arise to thee. 
Festus. Green dewy Earth, who standest at my 
feet, 
Singing and pouring sunshine on thy head, 
As nliiad native water, speak to me ! 
I am thy son. Canst thou not now, as once. 
Bring forth some being dearer, liker to thee 
Than is my race, — Titan or tiny fay, [speak, 

Stream-nymph or wood-nymph ? She hath ceased to 
Like God, except in thunder, or to look 
Unless in lightning. Miracles, with earth. 
Are out of fashion as with Heaven. 

Lucifer. More *3 

The pity. Call elsewhere ! Old Earth is hard 
Of hearing, maybe. 

Festus. I beseech thee. Sea ! 

Tossing thy wavy locks in sparkling play, 
Like to a child awakening with the light 



G2 FESTUS. 

To laughter. Canst not tliou disgulpli for me, 
From thy deep bosom, deep as Heaven is high, 
Of all thy sea-gods one, or sea-maids ? 

Lucifer. None ! 

Festus. I half despair. Fire ! that art slumber- 
ing there, 
Like some stern warrior in his rocky fort, 
After the vast invasion of the world. 
Hast not some flaming imp, or messenger 
Of empyrean element, to whom, 
In virtue of his nature, are both known 
The secrets of the burning, central, void below, 
And yon bright Heaven, out of whose aery fire 
Ai'e wrought the forms of angels and the thrones ? 
Hast none at hand to do my bidding ? Come ! 
Breathe out a spirit for me ! One I ask 
That shall be with me always, as a friend, 
And not like thee, who despotisest o'er 
The heart thou seek'st to serve. I must be free. 

Lucifer. All finite souls must serve; their 
widest sway 
Is but the rule of service. This fair earth 
Which thou dost boast so much of, why, thou see'st 
'T is but the particoloured, scummy dross 
Of the original element wherefrom 
The fiery worlds were framed. 

Festus. Air ! and thou. Wind ! 

Which art the unseen similitude of God 
The Spirit, His most meet and mightiest sign ; 
The earth with all her steadfastness and strength, 
Sustaining all, and bound about with chains 
Of mountains, as is life with mercies, ranging rounc* 
With all her sister orbs the whole of Heaven, 
Is not so like the unlikenable One 
As thou. Ocean is less divine than thee ; 



FESTUS. 63 

For altliough all but limitless, it is yet 

Visible, many a land not visiting. 

But thou art, Lovelike, everywhere ; o*er earth, 

O 'er ocean triumphing, and aye with clouds, 

That like the ghost of ocean's billows roll. 

Decking or darkening Heaven. The sun's light 

Floweth and ebbeth daily like the tides ; 

The moon's doth grow or lessen, night by night ; 

The stirless stars shine forth by fits and hide. 

And our companion planets come and go ; — 

And all are known, their laws and liberties. 

But no man can foreset thy coming, none 

Reason against thy going ; thou art free, 

The type impalpable of Spirit, thou. 

Thunder is but a momentary thing, 

Like a world's deathrattle, and is like death ; 

And lightning, like the blaze of sin, can blind 

Only and slay. But what are these to thee, 

In thine all-present variousness ? Now, 

So light as not to wake the snowiest down 

Upon the dove's breast, winning her bright way 

Calm and sublime as Grace unto the soul. 

Towards her far native grove ; now, stern and strong 

As ordnance, overturning tree and tower ; 

Cooling the white brows of the peaks of fire — 

Turning the sea's broad furrows like a plough, — 

Fanning the fruitening plains, breathing the sweets 

Of meadows, wandering o'er blinding snows. 

And sands like sea-beds and the streets of cities, 

Where men as garnered grain lie heaped together ; 

Freshening the cheeks, and mingling oft the locks 

Of youth and beauty 'neath star-speaking eve ; 

Swelling the pride of canvas, or, in wrath. 

Scattering the fleets of nations like dead leaves : 

In all, the same o'ermastering sio'htless force^ 



64 festtjS. 

Bowing the highest things of earth to earth, 
And hfting up the dust unto the stars ; 
Fatelike, confounding reason, and like God's 
Spirit, conferring life upon the world, — 
Midst all corruption incorruptible ; 
Monarch of all the elements ! hast thou 
No soft Eolian sylph, with sightless wing, 
To spare a mortal for an hour ? 

Lucifer. Peace, peace ! 

All nature knows that I am with thee here. 
And that thou need 'st no minor minister. 
To thee I personate the world — its powers. 
Beliefs, and doubts and practices. 

Festus. Are all 

Mine invocations fruitless, then ? 

Lucifer. They are. 

Let us enjoy the world ! 

Festus. If 'twas God's will 

That thou shouldst visit me He shall not send 
Temptation to my heart in vain. Sweet world! 
"We all still cling to thee. Though thou thyself 
Passest away, yet men will hanker about thee. 
Like mad ones by their moping haunts. Men pass, 
Cleaving to things themselves which pass away, 
Like leaves on waves. Thus all things pass for ever, 
Save mind and the mind's meed. 

Lucifer. Let us too pass ! 

Scene — Alcove and Garden. 

Festus and Clara. 

Festus. What happy things are youth and love 
and sunshine ! 
How sweet to feel the sun upon the heart ! 



FESTUS. 65 

To know it is lighting up the rosj blood, 
And with all joyous feelings, prism-hued, 
Making the dark breast shine like a spar grot. 
We walk among the sunbeams as with angels. 

Clara. Yes, there are feelings so serene and 
sweet, 
Coming and going with a musical lightness. 
That they can make amends for their passingness, 
And balance God's condition to decay ; 
As yon light fleecy cloudlet floating along, 
Lik^ golden down from some high angel's wing, 
Breaks but relieves and beautifies the blue. 
I wonder if ever I could love another. 
How I should start to see upon the sward 
A shadow not thine own armlinked with mine ! 
See, here is a garland I have bound for thee. 

Festus. Nay, crown thyself; it will suit thee 
better, love. 
Place wreaths of everlasting flowers on tombs, 
And deck with fading beauties forms that fade. 
Put it away, — I will no crown save this : 
And could the line of dust which here I trace 
Upon my brow but warrant dust beneath — 
And nothing more — or could this bubble frame. 
Informed with soul, lashed from the stream of life 
By its own impetus, but burst at once, 
And vanish part on high and part below, 
I would be happy, nor would envy death. 
Could I, like Heaven's bolt, earthing quench myself, 
This moment would I burn me out a grave. 
Might I but be as many years in dying 
As I have lived — that might be some relief, 

Clara. What canst thou mean ? 

Festus. Mean ? Is there not a future ? 

The past, the present and the coming, curse each I 
5 



66 FESTUS. 

The future, curse it ! 

Clara. Shall we not ever live 

And love as now ? 

Festus. Ay, live I fear we must. 

Claea. And love : because we then are happiest. 
AVe shall lack nothing having love : and we, 
We must be happy everywhere — we two ! 
For spiritual life is great and clear. 
And self-continuous as the changeless sea, 
Rolling the same in every age as now ; 
Whether o'er mountain tops, where only snow 
Dwells, and the sunbeam hurries coldly by ; 
Or o'er the vales, as now, of some old world 
Older than ancient man's. As is the sea's, 
So is the life of spirit, and the kind. 
And then with natures raised, refined and freed 
From these poor forms, our days shall pass in peace 
And love ; no thought of human littleness 
Shall cross our high calm souls, shining and pure 
As the gold gates of Heaven. Like some deep lake 
Upon a mountain summit they shall rest, 
High above cloud and storm of life like this, 
All peace and power, and passionless purity ; 
Or if a thought of other troubled times 
Euffle it for a moment, it shall pass 
Like a chance raindrop on its heavenward face. 
I love to meditate on bliss to come. 
Not that I am unhappy here ; but that 
The hope of higher bliss may rectify 
The lower feeling which we now enjoy. 
This life, this world is not enough for us ; 
They are nothing to the measure of our mind. 
For place we must have space ; for time we must 

have 
Eternity ; and for a spirit godhood. 



FESTUS. 67 

Festus. Mind means not happiness : power is 
not good. 

Clara. True bliss is to be found in holy life ; 
In charity to man — in love to God : 
Why should such duties cease, such powers decay? 
Are they not worthy of a deathless state — 
A boundless scope — a high uplifted life ? 
Man, like the air-born eagle who remains 
On earth only to feed and sleep and die ; 
But whose delight is on his lonely wing, 
Wider sweeping as a mind, to force the skies 
High as the lightfall ere, begirt with clouds, 
It dash this nether world — immortal man 
Rushes aloft, right upAvards, into Heaven. 
O faith of Christ, sole honour of the world ! 

Festus. What know men of religion, save its 
forms ? 

Claea. True faith nor biddeth nor abideth form. 
The bended knee, the eye uplift is all 
Which man need render ; all which God can bear. 
What to the faith are forms ? A passing speck, 
A crow upon the sky. God's worship is 
That only He inspires ; and His bright words. 
Writ in the red-leaved volume of the heart. 
Return to him in prayer, as dew to Heaven. 
Our proper good we rarely seek or make ; 
Mindless of our immortal powers and their 
Immortal end, as is the pearl of its worth, 
The rose its scent, the wave its purity. 

Festus. Come, we will quit these saddening 
themes. Wilt sing 
To me ? for I am gloomy ; and I love 
Thy singing, sacred as the sound of hymns. 
On some bright Sabbath morning, on the moor, 
Where all is still save praise ; and where liard by 



68 FESTUS. 

The ripe grain shakes its bright beard in the sun ; 
The wild bee hums more solemnly ; the deep skj, 
The fresh green grass, the sun, and sunny brook, 
All look as if they knew the day, the hour ; 
And felt with man the need and joy of thanks. 

Clara. I cannot sing the lightsome lays of lcv3r 
Many thou know'st who can ; but none that can 
Love thee as I do — for I love thy soul ; 
And I would save it, Festus ! Listen then : 

Is Heaven a place where pearly streams 

Glide over silver sand ? 
Like childhood's rosy dazzling dreams 

Of some far faery land ? 
Is Heaven a clime where diamond dews 

Glitter on fadeless flowers ? 
And mirth and music ring aloud 

From amaranthine bowers ? 

Ah no ; not such, not such is Heaven ! 

Surpassing far all these ; 
Such cannot be the guerdon given 

Man's wearied soul to please. 
For saint and sinner here b; low 

Such vain to be have proved : 
And the pure spirit will despise 

Wliate'er the sense hath loved. 

There we shall dwell with Sire and Son, 

And with the mother-maid, 
And with the Holy Spirit, one : 

In glory like arrayed : 
And not to one created thing 

Shall our embrace be given ; 
But all our joy shall be in God ; 

For only God is Heaven. 

Festus. I know that thou dost love me. I in vair 



FESTUS. 69 

Strive to love auglit of earth or Heaven but thee. 
Thou art my first, last, only love ; nor shall 
Another even tempt my heart. Like stars, 
A thousand sweet and bright and wondrous fair, 
A thousand deathless miracles of beauty. 
They shall ever pass at all but eyeless distance, 
And never mix wath thy love ; but be lost 
All, meanly in its moonlike lustrousness. 

Clara. How still the air is ! the tree tops stir not : 
But stand and peer on Heaven's bright face as 

though 
It slept and they were loving it : they would not 
Have the skies see them move for summers ; would 

they? 
See that sweet cloud ! It is watching us, I am certain. 
What have we here to make thee stay one second ? 
Away ! thy sisters wait thee in the west. 
The blushinoj bridemaids of the sun and sea. 
I would I were like thee, thou little cloud, 
Ever to live in Heaven : or seeking earth 
To let my spirit down in drops of love : 
To sleep with night upon her dewy lap ; 
And, the next dawn, back with the sun to Heaven ; 
And so on through eternity, sweet cloud ! 
I cannot but think that some senseless things 
Are happy. Often and often have I watched 
A gossamer line sighing itself along 
The air, as it seemed ; and so thin, thin and bright, 
Looking as woven in a loom of light, 
That I have envied it, I have, and followed ; — 
Oft watched the sea-bird's down blown o'er the wave, 
Now touching it, now spirited aloft, 
Now out of sight, now seen, — till in some bright 

fringe 
Of streamy foam, as in a cage, at last 



70 FESTUS. 

A playful death it dies, and mourned its death. 

Festus. But thinkest thou the future is a state 
More positive than this ; or that it can be 
Aught but another present, full of cares, 
And toils, perhaps, and duties ; that the soul 
Will ever be more nigh to God than now, 
Save as may seem from mind's debility : 
Just as the sun, from weakness of the eye, 
And the illusions made by matter's forms. 
Seems hot and wearied resting on the hill ? ' 

It would be well, I think, to Hve as though 
No more were to be looked for ; to be good 
Because it is best, here ; and leave hope and fear 
For lives below ourselves. If earth persuades not 
That I owe prayer and praise and love to God, 
While all I have He gives, will Heaven ? will Hell ? 
No ; neither, never ! 

Clara. I think not all with thee. 

Have I not heard thee hint of spirit-friends ? 
Where are they now ? 

Festus. Ah ! close at hand, mayhap. 

I have a might immortal ; and can ken 
With angels. Neither sky nor night nor earth 
Hinder me. Through the forms of things I see 
Their essences ; and thus, even now, behold — 
But where I cannot show to thee — far round, 
Nature herself — the whole effect of God. 
Mind, matter, motion, heat, time, love, and life. 
And death and immortality ; those chief 
And first-born giants all are there ; all parts, 
All limbs of her their mother ; she is all. 

Clara. And what does she ? 

Festus. Produce : it is her life. 

The three named last, life, death, deathlessness, 
Glide in elliptic path round all things made — 



FESTUS. 71 

For none save God can fill the perfect whole : 
And are but to eternity as is 
The horizon to the world. At certain points 
Each seems the other ; now, the three are one ; 
Now, all invisible ; and now, as first, 
Moving in measured round. 

Clara. How look these beings ? [turns ; 

Festus. Ah! Life looks gaily and gloomily in 
"With a brow chequered like the sward, by leaves 
Between which the light ghnts; and she, careless, 

wears 
A wreath of flowers — part faded and part fresh. 
And Death is beautiful and sad and still : 
She seems too happy ; happier far than life — 
In but one feeling, apathy : and on 
Her chill white brow frosts bright, a braid of snow. 

Clara. And Immortality ? 

Festus. She looks alone ; 

As thousrh she would not know her sisterhood. 
And on her brow a diadem of fire. 
Matched by the conflagration of her eye, 
Outflaming even that eye which in my sleep 
Beams close upon me till it bursts from sheer 
O'erstrainedness of sight, burns. 

Clara. What do they ? 

Festus. Each strives to win me to herself 

Clara. How ? 

Festus. Death 

Opens her sweet white arms and whispers, peace ! 
Come say thy sorrows in this bosom ! This 
Will never close against thee ; and my heart. 
Though cold, cannot be colder much than man's. 
Come ! All this soon must end ; and soon the world 
Shall perish leaf by leaf, and land by land ; 
Flower by floAver — flood by flood — and hill 



72 FESTUS. 

By hill, away ; Oh ! come, come ! Let us die. 

Clara. Say that thou wilt not die ! 

Festus. Nay, I love Death. 

But Immortality, with finger spired, 
Points to a distant, giant world — and says 
There, there is my home ! Live along with me ! 

Clara. Canst see that world ? 

Festus. Just — a huge shadowy shape ; 

It looks a disembodied orb — the ghost 
Of some great sphere which God hath stricken dead : 
Or like a world which God hath thought — not made. 

Clara. Follow her Festus! Does she speak 
again ? [in scorn, 

Festus. She never speaks but once ; and now, 
Points to this dim, dwarfed, misbegotten sphere. 

Clara. Why let her pass ? 

Festus. That is the great world-question. 

Life would not part with me ; and from her brow 
Tearing her wreath of passion-flowers, she flung 
It round my neck and dared me struggle then. 
I never could destroy a flower : and none 
But fairest hands like thine can grace with me 
The plucking of a rose. And Life, sweet Life ! 
Vowed she would crop the world for me and lay it 
Herself before my feet even as a flower. 
And when I felt that flower contained thyself — 
One drop within its nectary kept for me, 
I lost all count of those strange sisters three ; 
And where they be I know not. But I see 
One who is more to me. 

Clara. I know not how 

Thou hast this power and knowledge. I but hope 
It comes from good hands ; if it be not thine 
Own force of mind. It is much less what we do 
Than what we think, wliich fits us for the future. 



FESTUS. 78 

I wish we had a little world to ourselves ; 
"With none but we two on it. 

Festus. And if God 

Gave us a star, what could we do with it 
But that we could without it ? Wish it not ! 

Clara. I '11 not wish then for stars ; but I could 
love 
Some peaceful spot where we might dwell unknown, 
Where home-born joys might nestle round our hearts 
As swallows round our roofs, — and blend their 

sweets 
Like dewy-tangled flowerets in one bed. 

Festus. The sweetest joy, the wildest woe is love ; 
The taint of earth, the odour of the skies, 
Is in it. Would that I were aught but man ! 
The death of brutes, the immortality 
Of fiend or angel, better seems than all 
The doubtful prospects of our painted dust. 
And all Morality can teach is — Bear ! 
And all ReUgion can inspire is — Hope ! 

Clara. It is enough. Fruition of the fruit 
Of the great Tree of Life, is not for earth. 
Stars are its fruit, its lightest leaf is life. 
The heart hath many sorrows beside love, 
Yea many as the veins which visit it. 
The love of aught on earth is not its chief 
Nor ought to be. Inclusive of them all 
There is the one main sorrow, life ; — for what 
Can spirit, severed from the great one, God, 
Feel but a grievous longing to rejoin 
Its infinite — its author — and its end ? 
And yet is life a thing to be beloved. 
And honored holily, and bravely borne. 
A man's life may be all ease, and his death 
By some dark chance, unthought of agony : — 



7d FESTUS. 

Or life may be all suffering, and decease 

A flower-like sleep ; — or both be full of woe, 

Or each comparatively painless. Blame 

Not God for inequalities like these ! 

They may be justified. How canst thou know ? 

They may be only seeming. Canst thou judge ? 

They may be done away with utterly 

By loving, fearing, knowing God the Truth. 

In all distress of spirit, grief of heart, 

Bodily agony, or mental woe, 

Rebuffs and vain assumptions of the world, 

Or the poor spite of weak and wicked souls. 

Think thou on God ! Think what he underwent 

And did for us as man. Weigh thou thy cross 

With Christs, and judge which were the heavier. 

Joy even in thine anguish ! — such was His, 

But measurelessly more. Thy suffering 

Assimilateth thee to Him. Rejoice ! 

Think upon what thou shalt be ! Think on God ! 

Then ask thyself, what is the world, and all 

Its mountainous inequalities ? Ah, what ! 

Are not all equal as dust-atomies ? 

Festus. My soul's orb darkens as a sudden star, 
Which having for a time exhausted earth 
And half the Heavens of wonder, mortally 
Passes for ever, not eclipsed, consumed ; — 
All but a cloudy vapour darkening there, 
The very spot in space it once illumed. 
Once to myself I seemed a mount of light ; 
But now, a pit of night. — No more of this ! 
Here have I lain all day in this green nook, 
Shaded by larch and hornbeam, ash and yew ; 
A living well and runnel at my feet, 
And wild flowers, dancing to some delicate air ; 
An urn-topped column and its ivy wreath 



FESTUS. 75 

Skirting my siglit as thus I lie and look 

Upon the blue, unchanging, sacred sides : 

And thou, too, gentle Clara, by my side, 

With lightsome brow and beaming eye, and bright 

Long glorious locks, which drop upon thy cheek 

Like goldhued cloudflakes on the rosy morn. 

Oh ! when the heart is full of sweets to o'erflowing. 

And ringing to the music of its love, 

Who but an angel or an hyprocrite 

Could speak or think of happier states ? 

Clara. Farewell ! 

Remember what thou saidst about the stars. [ Goes. 

Festus. Oh ! why was woman made so fair ? or 
man 
So weak as to see that more than one had beauty ? 
It is impossible to love but one. 
And yet I dare not love thee as I could ; 
For all that the heart most longs for and deserves, 
Passes the soonest and most utterly. 
The moral of the world's great fable, life. 
All we enjoy seems given to deceive, 
Or may be, undeceive us ; who cares which ? 
And when the sum is done, and we have proved it, 
Why work it over and over still again ? 
I am not what I would be. Hear me, God ! 
And speak to me in thine invisible likeness • 

The wind, as once of yore. Let me be pure ! 
Oh ! I wish I was a pure child again, 
As ere the clear could trouble me : when life 
Was sweet and calm as is a sister's kiss ; 
And not the wild and whirlwind touch of passion, 
Which though it hardly light upon the lip. 
With breathless swiftness sucks the soul out of sight 
So that we lose it, and all thought of it. 
What is this life wherein Thou hast founded me, 



76 FESTUS. 

But a bright wheel which burns itself away, 

Benighting even night with its grim limbs, 

When it hath done and fainted into darkness ? 

Flesh is but fiction, and it flies away ; 

The gaunt and ghastly thing we bear about us 

And which we hate and fear to look upon 

Is truth ; in death's dark likeness limned — no more 



Scene — Anywhere. 

Festus and Lucifer meeting, 

[me? 
Festus. God hath refused me : wilt thou do it for 
Or shall I end with both ? remake myself? 

Lucifer. Now that is the one thing which I 
cannot do. 
Am I not open with thee ? why choose that ? 

Festus. Because I will it. Thou art bound to obey. 

Lucifer. The world bears marks of my obedience. 

Festus. Off ! I am torn to pieces. Let me try 

And gather up myself into a man, 

As once I was. I have done with thee ! Dost hear ? 

Lucifer. Thou canst not mean this. 

Festus. Once for all — I do. 

, Lucifer. It is men who are deceivers — not the 

Devil. 
The first and worst of all frauds is to cheat 
Oneself. All sin is easy after that. 

Festus. I feel that we must part: part now or never; 
And I had rather of the two it were now. 

Lucifer. This is my last walk through my fa- 
vourite world : 
And T had hoped to have enjoyed it with thee. 
For thee I quitted Hell ; for thee I warped 



FESTUS. 77 

And shrivelled up my soul into a man : 
For thee I shed my shining wings ; for thee 
Put on this mask of fiesh, this mockery 
Of motion, and this seeming shape like thine. 
And by my woe, I swear that were I now, 
For thy false heart, to give my spirit spring, 
I would scatter soul and body both to Hell, 
And let one burn the other. 

Festus. If thou darest ! 

Lift but the fino;er of a thou^jht of ill 
Agitlnst me, and — thou durst not. Mark, we part. 

Lucifer. Well ; as thou wilt. Remember that 
thy heart 
Will shed its pleasures as thine eye its tears ; 
And both leave loathsome furrows. 

Festus. Thinkest thou 

That I will have no pleasures without thee, 
Who marrest all thou makest and even more ? 

Lucifer. Thou canst not ; save indeed some 
poor trite thing 
Called moderation, every one can have ; 
And modesty, God knows, is suffering. 

Festus. Now will I prove thee liar for that word, 
And that the very vastest out of Hell. 
With perfect condemnation I abjure 
My soul; my nature doth abhor itself; 
I have a soul to spare ! [ Goes. 

Lucifer. A hundred, L 

I have him yet : for he is mine to tempt. 
Gold hath the hue of hell flames : but for him 
I will lay some brilliant and delicious lure 
Which shall be worth perdition to a seraph. 
Most men glide quietly and deeply down : 
Some seek the bottom like a cataract. 
Now he shall find it, seek it how he will. 



78 FESTUS. 

None ever went witliout once taking breath. 
* It is passion i)lunges men into mine arms ; 
But it matters not ; llell burns before them all. 
It is by Ilell-light tliey do their ehiefest deeds ; 
And by Ilell-light they shine unto each other ; 
And Hell through life's thick fog glares red and 

round ; 
And Ijut for Hell they would grope in utter dark. 



ScKN i<: — A Country Town — 3Iarl'ct-place — Noon, 

Lucifer and Festus. 

[men ! 

Lucifer. These be the toils and cares of mighty 
Earth's vermin are as fit to fill her thrones 
As these high Heaven's bright seats. 

Festus. Men's callings all 

Are mean and vain ; their wishes more so : oft 
The man is bettered by his part or place. 
How slight a chance may raise or sink a soul ! 

Lucifer. What men call accident is God's own part. 
He lets ye work your Avill — it is His own : 
But that ye mean not, know not, do not, He doth. 

Festus. What is life worth without a heart to feel 
The great and lovely, and the ])oetry 
And sacredness of things? for all things are 
Sacred, — the eye of God is on them all, 
And hallows all unto it. It is fine 
To stand upon some lofty mountain-thought 
And feel the spirit stretch into a view ; 
To joy in what might be if will and power 
For good would work together but one hour. 
Yet millions never think a noble thought: 
But with brute hate of brightness bay a mind 
Which drives the darkness out of them, like hounds. 



FESTUS. 79 

Throw but a false glare round tliem, and in slioals 
They rush upon perdition : that 's tlie race. 
What cliarm is in this world-scene to such minds 
IBlinded by dust? Wliat can they do in Heaven, 
A state of spiritual means and ends ? 
Thus must I doubt — perpetually doubt. 

LuciFKR. AVho never doubted never half believed. 
"Wliere doubt there truth is — 'tis her shadow. I 
Declare unto thee that the past is not. 
I liave looked over all life, yet never seen 
Tillage that had been. Why then fear or dream 
About the future ? Nothing but what is, is ; 
Else God were not the Maker that He seems, 
As constant in creating as in being. 
Embrace the present ! Let the future pass. 
Plague not thyself about a future. That 
Only which comes direct from God, His spirit, 
Is deathless. Nature gravitates without 
Effort ; and so all mortal natures fall 
Deatliwards. All aspiration is a toil ; 
But inspiration cometh from above, 
And is no labour. The earth's inborn strength 
Could never lift her up to yon stars, whence 
She fell ; nor human soul, by native worth. 
Claim Heaven as birthright, more than man may call 
Cloudland his home. The soul's inheritance, 
Its birth-place, and its death-place, is of earth, 
Until God maketli earth and soul anew ; 
The one like Heaven, the other like Himself. 
So shall the new Creation come at once ; 
Sin, the dead branch upon the tree of Life, 
Shall be cut off for ever ; and all souls 
Concluded in God's boundless amnesty. 

Festus. Thou windest and unwindest faith at will. 
What am I to believe ? 



80 PESTUS. 

Lucifer. Thou mayst believe 

But tliat which thou art forced to. 

Festus. Then I feel 

That instinct of immortal life in me, 
Which prompts me to provide for it. 

Lucifer. Perhaps. 

Festus. Man hath a knowledge of a time to 
come — 
His most important knowledge : the weight lies 
Nearest the short end ; and the world depends 
Upon what is to be. I would deny 
The present, if the future. Oh ! there is 
A life to come, or all 's a dream. 

Lucifer. And all 

May be a dream. Thou seest in thine, men, deeds, 
Clear, moving, full of speech and order ; then 
Why may not all this world be but a dream 
Of God's? Fear not! Some morning God may 
waken. 

Festus. I would it were. This life 's a mystery. 
The value of a thought cannot be told ; 
But it is clearly worth a thousand lives 
Like many men's. And yet men love to live 
As if mere life were worth their living for. 
What but perdition will it be to most ? 
Life 's more than breath and the quick round of blood 
It is a great spirit and a busy heart. 
The coward and the small in soul scarce do live. 
One generous feeling — one great thought — one deed 
Of good, ere night, would make life longer seem 
Than if each year might number a thousand days, — 
Spent as is this by nations of mankind. 
We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 
We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 



FESTUS. 81 

"Who thinks most — feels the noblest - — acts the best. 

Life's but a means unto an end — that end, 

Beginning, mean and end to all things — God. 

The dead have all the gloiy of the world. 

Why will we live and not be glorious ? 

We never can be deathless till Ave die. 

It is the dead win battles. And the breath 

Of those who through the world drive like a wedge, 

Tearing earth's empires up, nears death so close 

It dims his well-worn scythe. But no ? the brave 

Di^ never. Being deathless, they but change 

Their country's arms for more — their country's 

heart. 
Give then the dead their due ; it is they who saved us. 
The rapid and the deep — the fall, the gulph 
Have likenesses in feeling and in life. 
And life, so varied, hath more loveliness 
In one day than a creeping century 
Of sameness. But youth loves and lives on change 
Till the soul sighs for sameness ; which at last 
Becomes variety, and takes its place. 
Yet some will last to die out thought by thought. 
And power by power, and limb of mind by limb. 
Like lambs upon a gay device of glass, 
Till all of soul that's left be dry and dark ; 
Till even the burden of some ninety years 
Hath crashed into them like a rock ; shattered 
Their system as if ninety suns had rushed 
To ruin earth — or Heaven had rained its stars ; 
Till they become, like scrolls, unreadable 
Throught dust and mould. Can they be cleaned and 

read ? 
Do human spirits wax and wane like moons ! 

Lucifer. The eye dims and the heart gets old and 

slow ; 

6 



82 FESTUS. 

Tlie litlie limb stiffens, and the sim-liued locks 

Thin themselves off, or whitely wither ; — still 

Ages not spirit, even in one point, 

Immeasurably small ; from orb to orb. 

In ever rising radiance, shining hke 

The sun upon the thousand lands of earth. 

Look at the medley, motley throng we meet ! 

Some smiling — frowing some ; their cares and joys 

Alike not worth a thought — some sauntering slowly 

As if destruction never could o'ertake them ; 

Some hurrying on as fearing judgment swift 

Should trip the heels of Death and seize them living. 

Festus. Grief hallows hearts even while it ages 
heads ; 
And much hot grief, in youth, forces up life 
With power which too soon ripens and which drops. 

\_A funeral passes. 
Whose funeral is this ye follow, friends ? 

Lucifer. Would ye Imve grief, let me come ! I 
am woe. [grief. 

Mourner We want no grief: Festus ! she died of 

Festus. Did ye say she died ? oh ! I knew her then. 
Set down the body ; let me look upon her ! 
Now, Son of God ! what dost Thou now in heaven 
While one so beautiful lies earthening here ? 
I will give up the future for the past ; 
The winged spirit and the starry home 
If Thou wilt let her live, and make me love. 

Mourner. She was a lock of Heaven which Heav- 
en gave earth. 
And took again, because unworthy of her. 

Festus. Her air was an immortal's ; I have seen 
Stars look on it with feeling ; and her eye. 
Wherever she went, it won her way like wine. 
Men bowed to it as to the lifted Host. 



FESTUS. 83 

How could I be so cruel ? Who but I ? 

And now, corruption, come ; sit ; feast thyself! 

This is the choicest banquet thou hast been at. 

Thou art my happier, only rival : thou 

Who takest love from the living — life from beauty- — 

Beauty from death — whole robber of the world ! 

Mourner. The moment after thou desertedst her 
A cloud came over the prospect of her life ; 
And I foresaw how evening would set in, 
Early and dark and deadly. She was true. 

Festus. Did I not love thee too ? pure ! perfect thing ! 
This is a soul I see and not a body. 
Go, beauty, rest for aye ; go, starry eyes. 
And lips like rosebuds peeping out of snow ; 
Gro, breast love-filled as a boat's sail with wind, 
Leaping from wave to wave as leaps a child 
Thoughtless o'er grassy graves ; go, locks, which have 
The golden embrownment of a lion's eye ! 
Yet one more look ; farewell, thou well and fair ! 
All who but loved thee shall be deathless. Nought 
Named but with thee can perish. Thou and Death 
Have made each other purer, lovelier, seem, 
Like snow and moonlight. Never more for thee 
Let eyes be swollen like streams with latter rains ! 
To die were rapture having lived with thee. 
Thy soul hath passed out of a bodily Heaven 
Into a spiritual. Rest for aye ! — 
Pure as the dead, in life ; the dead are holy. 
I would I were among them. Let us pass ! 
Living is but a habit ; and I mean 
To break myself of it soon. 

Lucifer. Too soon thou canst not 

Men heed not of the day, how nigh none knows, 
Wliich brings the consummation of the world. 
But in my ear the old machine already 



84 FESTUS. 

Begins to grate. They would not credit warning, 

Or I would up and cry, Repent ! I will. 

Here is a fair gathering and I feel moved. 

Mortals, Repent ! the world is nigh to its end ; 

On its last legs and desperately sick. 

See ye not how it reels round all day long ? 

Boys. Oh ! here's a ranter. Come, here's fun. 
I know the church service by heart. [Amen ! 

Bystander. Be off! 

You '11 serve the church by keeping out of it. 

Lucifer. I am a preacher come to tell ye truth. 
I tell ye too there is no time to be lost ; 
So fold your souls up neatly, while ye may ; 
Direct to God in Pleaven ; or some one else 
May seize them, seal them, send them — you know 

where. 
The world must end. I weep to think of it. 
But you, you laugh ! I knew ye would. I know 
Men never will be wise till they are fools 
For ever. Laugh away ! The time will come, 
When tears of fire are trickling from your eyes, 
Ye will blame yourselves for having laughed at me. 
I warn ye, men : prepare ! repent ! be saved ! 
I warn ye, not because I love, but know ye. 
God will dissolve the world, as she of old 
Her pearl, within His cup and swallow ye 
In wrath : although to taste ye would be poison, 
And death and suicide to aught but God. 
Again I warn ye. Save himself who can ! 
Do ye not oft begin to seek salvation ? 
You ? you ? and fail, as oft, to -find ? Sink ? Cease ? 
And shall I tell ye, brethren, why ye fail 
Once and for ever ? why, there is no past ; 
And the future is the fiction of a fiction ; 
The present moment is eternity ; 



FESTUS. 85 

It is tliat ye have sucked corruption from tlie world 

Like milk from your own mothers : it is in 

Your soul-blood and your soul-bones. Earth does 

not 
Wean one out of a thousand sous to Heaven. 
Beginnings are alike : it is ends which differ. 
One drop falls, lasts, and dries up — but a drop; 
Another begins a river : and one thought 
Settles a life, an immortality : 
And that one thought ye will not take to good. 
Now I will tell ye just one other truth: 
Ye hate the truth as snails salt — it dissolves ye, 
Body and soul — but I don't mind. So, now : 
Up to this moment ye are all, each, damned. 
What are ye now ? still damned ! It will be the same 
To-morrow — and the next day — and the next : 
Till some fine morning ye will wake in fire. 
Ye see I do not mince the truth for ye. 
Belike ye think your lives will dribble out 
As brooks in summer dry up. Let us see ! 
Try : dike them up : they stagnate — thicken — scum. 
That would make life worse than death. Well, let go ! 
Where are ye then ? for life, like water, will 
Find its last level : what level ? The grave. 
It is but a fall of five feet after all ; 
That cannot hurt ye ; it is but just enough 
To work the wheel of life ; so work away ! 
Ye may think that I do not know the terms 
And treasures whereupon ye live so high. 
But I know more than most men, modestly 
Speaking. I know I am lost, and ye too. God 
Could only save me by destroying me ; 
So that I have no advantage over you. 
And therefore think ye will the rather bear 
One of your own state to advise for ye 



86 FESTUS. 

Now don't you envy me, good folks, I pray, — 
Envy's a coal comes hissing hot from hell. 
'Twill be such coals will burn ye by the way. 
Your other preachers first think they are safe. 
Now I say, broadly, I am the worst among ye ; 
And God knows I have no need to wrong myself, 
Nor you. I boast not of it, but as truth : 
It is little to be proud of, credit me. 
What is salvation ? What is safety ? Think ! 
Who wants to know ? Does any ? 

The Crowd. All of us. [until 

Lucifer. Then I will not tell ye. You shall wait 
Some angel come and stir your stagnant souls : 
Then plunge into yourselves and rise redeemed. 
Come, I '11 unroll your hearts and read them to ye. 
To say ye live is but to say ye have souls, 
That ye have paid for them and mean to play them, 
Till some brave pleasure wins the golden stake, 
And rakes it up to death as to a bank. 
Ye live and die on what your souls will fetch ; 
And all are of different prices : therefore Hell 
Cannot well bargain for mankind in gross ; 
But each soul must be purchased, one by one. 
This it is makes men rate themselves so high : 
While truly ye are worth little : but to God 
Ye are wo;'th more than to yourselves. By sin 
Ye wreak your spite against God — that ye know : 
And knowing, will it. But I pray, I beg. 
Act with some smack of justice to your Maker, 
If not unto yourselves. Do ! It is enough 
To make the very Devil chide mankind — 
Such baseness, such unthankfulness ! Why he 
Thanks God he is no worse. You don't do that. 
I say be just to God. Leave off these airs 
Know your place — speak to God — and say, for once, 



FESTUS. 87 

Go first, Lord ! Take your finger oflf your eye ! 

It blocks the universe and God from sight. 

Think ye your souls are worth nothing to God ? 

Are they so small ? "What can be great with God ? 

What will ye weigh against the Lord ? Yourselves ? 

Bring out your balance : get in, man by man : 

Add earth, heaven, hell, the universe ; that 's all. 

God puts his finger in the other scale. 

And up we bounce, a bubble. Nought is great 

Nor small with God — for none but He can make 

The* atom indivisible, and none 

But He can make a world : He counts the orbs, 

He counts the atoms of the universe, 

And makes both equal — both are infinite. 

Giving God honor, never underrate 

Yourselves : after Him ye are everything. 

But mind ! God 's more than everything ; He is God. 

And what of me ? No, us ? no ! I mean the Devil ? 

AVliy see ye not he goes before both you 

And God ? Men say — as proud as Lucifer — 

Pray who would not be proud with such a train ? 

Hath he not all the honor of the earth ? 

Why Mammon sits before a million hearths 

Where God is bolted out from every house. 

Well might He say He cometh as a thief; 

For He will break your bars and burst your doors 

Wliich slammed against Him once, and turn ye out, 

Hoofless and shivering, 'neath the doom-storm ; 

Shall crack above ye like a bell in fire, [Heaven 

And bury all beneath its shining shards. 

He calls : ye hear not. Lo ! he comes — ye see not. 

No ; ye are deaf as a dead adder's ear : 

No ; ye are blind as never bat was blind. 

With a burninsf bloodshot blindness of the heart ; 

A swimming, swollen senselessness of soul. 



88 FESTUS. 

Listen ! Whom love ye most ? Why him to whom 

Ye in your turn are dearest. Need I name ? 

Oh no ! But all are devils to themselves ; 

And every man his own great foe. Hell gets 

Only the gleanings ; earth hath the full wain ; 

And hell is merry at its harvest home. 

But ye are generous to sin and grudge 

The gleaners nothing ; ask them, push them in. 

Let not an ear, a grain of sin be lost ; 

Gather it, grind it up ; it is our bread : 

We should be ashamed to waste the gifts of Grod. 

Why is the world so mad ? Why runs it thus 

Raving and howling round the universe ? 

Because the Devil bit it from the birth ! 

The fault is all with him. Fear nothing, friends ! 

It is fear which beds the far to-come with fire 

As the sun does the west : but the sun sets ; 

Well ; still ye tremble — tremble, first at light, 

Then darkness. Tremble ! ye dare not believe. 

No, cowards ! sooner than believe ye would die ; 

Die with the black lie flapping on your lips 

Like the soot-flake upon a burning bar. 

Be merry, happy if ye can : think never 

Of him who slays your souls, nor Him who saves. 

There is time enough for that when ye are a-dying. 

Keep your old ways ! It matters not this once. 

Be brave ! Ye are not men whom meat and wine 

Serve to remind but of the sacrament ; 

To whom sweet shapes and tantalizing smiles 

Bring up the Devil and the ten commandments — 

And so on — but I said the world must end, 

I am sorry ; it is such a pleasant world : 

With all its faults it is perfect — to a fault : 

And you, of course, end with it. Now how long 

Will the world take to die ? I know ye place 



FESTUS. B% 

Great faith upon death-bed repentances ; 

The suddener the better. I know ye often 

Begin to think of praying and repenting ; [ever ; 

But second thoughts come and ye are worse than 

As over new white snow a filthy thaw. 

Ye do amaze me verily. How long 

Will ye take heart on your own wickedness, 

And God's forbearance ? Have ye cast it up ? 

Come now ; the year and month, day, hour and 

minute, 
Sin*§ golden cycle. Do ye know how long 
Exactly Heaven will grant ye ? how long God, — 
"Who Avhen he had slain the world and wasted it, 
Hung up His bow in Heaven, as in his hall 
A warrior after battle — will yet bear 
Your contumely and scorn of His best gifts, -^ 
Man's mockery of man ? But never mind ! 
Some of us are magnificently good, 
And hold the head up high like a giraffe ; 
You, in particular, and you — and you. 
Good men are here and there, I know ; but then, — 
You must excuse me if I mention this — 
My duty is to tell it you — the world, 
Like a black block of marble, jagged with white, 
As with a vein of lightning petrified. 
Looks blacker than without such ; looks in truth, 
So gross the heathen, gross the Christian too — 
Like the original darkness of void space. 
Hardened. Instead of justice, love and grace, 
Each worth to man the mission of a God, 
Injustice, hate, uncharitableness, 
Triequal reign round earth, a Trinity of Hell. 
Ye think ye never can be bad enough : 
And as ye sink in sin, ye rise in hope. 
And let the worst come to the worst, you say, 



90 FESTUS. 

There always will be time to turn ourselves, 
And crj for half an hour or so to God : 
Salvation, sure, is not so very hard — 
It need not take one long ; and half an hour 
Is quite as much as we can spare for it. 
•We have no time for pleasures. Business ! business ! 
No ! ye shall perish sudden and unsaved. 
The priest shall, dipping, die. Can man save man ? 
Is water God ? The counsellor, wise fool ! 
Drop down amid his quirks and sacred lies — 
The judge, while dooming unto death some wretch, 
Shall meet at once his own death, doom, and judge. 
The doctor, watch in hand, and patient's pulse, 
Shall feel his own heart cease its beats — and fall : 
Professors shall spin out, and students strain 
Their brains no more ; art, science, toil shall cease. 
The world shall stand still with a rending jar. 
As though it struck at sea. The halls where sit 
The heads of nations shall be dumb with death. 
The ship shall after her own plummet sink, 
And sound the sea herself and depths of death. 
At the first turn Death shall cut off the thief, 
And dash the gold bag in his yellow brain. 
The gambler, reckoning gains, shall drop a piece ; 
Stoop down and there see death ; — look up, there 
The wanton, temporizing with decay, [God. 

And qualifying every line which vice 
Writes bluntly on the brow, inviting scorn, 
Shall pale through plastered red : and the loose, low 
sot [eye. 

See clear, for once, through his misty, o'erbrimmed 
The just, if there be any, die in prayer. 
Death shall be every where among your marts, 
And giving bills which no man may decline — • 
Drafts upon Hell one moment after date. 



FESTDS. 91 

Then shall your outcries tremble amid the stars : 
Terrors shall be about ye like a wind : 
And fears come down upon ye like a house. 

Festus. Yon man looks frightened. 

Lucifer. Then it is time to stop. 

I hope I have done no good. He will soon forget 
His souk Flesh soaks it up as sponge does water. 
Now wait ! I will rub them backwards like a cat ; 
And you shall see them spit and sparkle up. 
Let us suppose a case, friends ! You are men ; 
And* there is God ! and I will be the Devil. 
Very well. I am the Devil. 

One says. I think you are. 

You look as if you lived on buttered thunder. 

Lucifer. Nay, be not wroth. Ye would crucify 
the Devil, 
I do believe, if he a moment vexed you. 
I know well which ye choose : but choose again ! 
Time or eternity ? Speak, Hell or Heaven ? 

TnE Crowd. He 's a mad ranter : down with 
him ! — 

Festus. Let him be ! [thee. 

Lucifer. Stand by me, Festus, and I will by 
Why, God and man ! this is the second time 
That I have run for ray life. 

Festus. Nay, nay, come back ! [round 

They will not harm thee : they would chair thee 
The market-place, knew they but whom thou art. 
Peace, there my friends ! one minute ; let us pray 1 
Grant us, oh God ! that in thy holy love 
The universal people of the world 
May grow more great and happy every day ; 
Mightier, wiser, humbler, too, towards Thee. 
And that all ranks, all classes, callings, states 
Of life, so far as such seem right to Thee, 



92 FESTUS. 

May mingle into one, like sister trees, 

And so in one stem flourish : — that all laws 

And powers of government be based and used 

In good and for the people's sake ; — that each 

May feel himself of consequence to all. 

And act as though all saw him ; — that the whole, 

The mass of every nation may so do 

As is most worthy of the next to God ; 

For a whole people's souls, each one worth more 

Than a mere world of matter, make combined, 

A something godlike — something like to Thee. 

"VYe pray thee for the welfare of all men. 

Let monarchs who love truth and freedom feel 

The happiness of safety and respect 

From those they rule, and guardianship from Thee. 

Let them remember they are set on thrones 

As representatives, not substitutes 

Of nations, to implead with God and man. 

Let tyrants who hate truth, or fear the free. 

Know that to rule in slavery and error. 

For the mere ends of personal pomp and power. 

Is such a sin as doth deserve a hell 

To itself sole. Let both remember. Lord ! 

They are but things like-natured with all nations ; 

Tliat mountains issue out of plains, and not 

Plains out of mountains, and so likewise kings 

Are of the people, not the people of kings. 

And let all feel, the rulers and the ruled, 

All classes and all countries, that the world 

Is Thy great halidom ; that Thou art King, 

Lord ! only owner and possessor. Grant 

That nations may now see, it is not kings. 

Nor priests they need fear so much as themselves ; 

That if they keep but true to themselves, and free, 

Sober, enlightened, godly — mortal men 



FESTUS. 93 

Become impassible as air, one great 
And indestructible substance as the sea. 
Let all on thrones and judgment-seats reflect 
How dreadful Thy revenge through nations is 
On those who wrong them ; but do Thou grant, Lord ! 
That when wrongs are to be redressed, such may 
Be done with mildness, speed, and firmness, not 
With viol-ence or hate, whereby one wrong 
Translates another — both to Thee abhorrent. 
The bells of time are rinoino; chanjijes fast. 
Grant, Lord ! that each fresh peal may usher in 
An era of advancement, that each change 
Prove an effectual, lasting, happy gain. 
And we beseech Thee, overrule, oh God ! 
All civil contests to the good of all ; 
All party and religious difference 
To honourable ends, whether secured 
Or lost ; and let all strife, political 
Or social, spring from conscientious aims, 
And have a generous self-ennobling end, 
Man's good and Thine own glory in view always ! 
The best may then fail and the worst succeed 
Alike Avith honour. We beseech Thee, Lord ! 
For bodily strength, but more especially 
For the soul's health and safety. We entreat Thee 
In thy great mercy to decrease our wants. 
And add autumnal increase to the comforts 
Which tend to keep men innocent, and load 
Their hearts with thanks to Thee as trees in bear- 
ing:— 
The blessings of friends, families, and homes, 
And kindnesses of kindred. And we pray 
That men may rule themselves in faith in God, 
In charity to each other, and in hope 
Of their own souls' salvation : — that the mass, 



94 FESTUS. 

The millions in all nations may be trained, 

From their youth upwards, in a nobler mode, 

To loftier and more liberal ends. We pray 

Above all things, Lord ! that all men be free 

From bondage, whether of the mind or body ; — 

The bondage of religious bigotry. 

And bald antiquity, servility 

Of thought or speech to rank and power ; bo all 

Free as they ought to be in mind and soul 

As well as by state-birthright ; — and that IVIind, 

Time's giant pupil, may right soon attain 

Majority, and speak and act for himself! 

Incline Thou to our prayers, and grant, oh Lord ! 

That all may have enough, and some safe mean 

Of worldly goods and honours, by degrees, 

Take place, if practicable, in the fitness 

And fulness of Thy time. And we beseech Thee, 

That Truth no more be gagged, nor conscience 

dungeoned, 
Nor science be impeached of godlessness. 
Nor faith be circumscribed, which as to Thee, 
And the soul's self affairs is infinite ; 
But that all men may have due liberty 
To speak an honest mind, in every land. 
Encouragement to study, leave to act 
As conscience orders. We entreat Thee, Lord ! 
For Thy Son's sake to take away reproach 
Of all kinds from Thy church, and all temptation 
Of pomp or power political, that none 
May err in the end for which they were appointed 
To any of its orders, low or high ; 
And no ambition, of a worldly cast. 
Leaven the love of souls unto whose care 
They feel propelled by Thy most holy spirit. 
Be every church established, Lord ! in truth. 



FESTUS. 95 

Let all who preach the word, live by the word, 

In moderate estate ; and m Thj church, — 

One, universal, and invisible 

World-wards, yet manifest unto itself, 

May it seem good, dear Saviour, in Thy sight, 

That orders be distinguished, not by wealth, 

But piety and power of teaching souls. 

Equalise labour. Lord ! and recompence. 

Let not a hundred humble pastors starve, 

In this or any land of Christendom, 

Wkile one or two, impalaced, mitred, throned 

And banqueted, burlesque if not blaspheme 

The holy penury of the Son of God ; 

The fastings, the footwanderings, and the preachings 

Of Christ and His first followers. Oh that the Son 

Might come again ! There should be no more war, 

No more want, no more sickness ; with a touch, 

He should cure all disease, and with a word. 

All sin ; and with a look to Heaven, a prayer, 

Provide bread for a million at a time. 

But till that perfect advent grant us, Lord ! 

That all good institutions, orders, claims. 

Charitably proposed, or in the aid 

Of Thy divine foundation, may much prosper, 

And more of them be raised and nobly filled ; — 

Tliat Thy word may be taught throughout all lands. 

And save souls daily to the thrones of Heaven ! — 

And we entreat Thee, that all men whom Thou 

Hast gifted with great minds may love Thee well. 

And praise Thee for their powers, and use them most 

Humbly and holily, and, lever-like. 

Act but in Hfting up the mass of mind 

About them ; knowing well that they shall be 

Questioned by Thee of deeds the pen hath done. 

Or caused, or glozed ; inspire them with delight 



'96 FESTUS. 

And power to treat of noble themes and things, 

Worthily, and to leave the low and mean — 

Things born of vice or day- lived fashion, in 

Their naked native folly : — make them know 

Fine thoughts are wealth, for the right use of which 

Men are and ought to be accountable, — 

If not to Thee, to those they influence: 

Grant this we pray Thee, and that all who read, 

Or utter noble thoughts, may make them theirs, 

And thank God for them, to the betterment 

Of their succeeding life ; — that all who lead 

The general sense and taste, too apt, perchance. 

To be led, keep in mind the mighty good 

They may achieve, and are in conscience, bound. 

And duty, to attempt unceasingly 

To compass. Grant us. All-maintaining Sire ! 

That all the great mechanic aids to toil [used 

Man's skill hath formed, found, rendered, — whether 

In multiplying works of mind, or aught 

To obviate the thousand wants of life, 

May much avail to human welfare now 

And in all ages, henceforth and for ever ! 

Let their effect be, Lord ! to lighten labour. 

And give more room to mind, and leave the poor 

Some time for self-improvement. Let them not 

Be forced to grind the bones out of their arms 

For bread, but have some space to think and feel 

Like moral and immortal creatures. God ! 

Have mercy on them till such time shall come ; 

Look Thou with pity on all lesser crimes, 

Thrust on men almost when devoured by want, 

"Wretchedness, ignorance and outcast life ! 

Have mercy on the rich, too, who pass by 

The means they have at hand to fill their minds 

With serviceable knowledge for themselves. 



FESTUS. 97 

Aiid fellows, and support not the good cause 
Of the world's better future ! Oil, reward 
All such who do, with peace of heart and power 
For greater good. Have mercy, Lord ! on each 
And all, for all men need it equally. 
May peace and industry and commerce weld 
Into one land all nations of the world, 
Reweddinor those the Delu2:e once divorced. 
Oh ! may all help each other in good things, 
Mentally, morally, and bodily ! 
V(Jlichsafe, kind God ! Thy blessing to this isle, 
Specially ! May our country ever lead 
The world, for she is worthiest ; and may all 
Profit by her example, and adopt 
Her course, wherever great, or free, or just. 
May all her subject colonies and powers 
Have of her freedom freely, as a child 
Receiveth of its parents. Let not rights 
Be wrested from us to our own reproach. 
But granted. We may make the whole world free, 
And be as free ourselves as ever, more ! 
If policy or self-defence call forth 
Our forces to the field, let us in Thee 
Place, first, our trust, and in Thy name we shall 
O'ercome, for we will only wage the right. 
Let us not conquer nations for ourselves, 
But for Thee, Lord ! who hast predestined us 
To fight the battles of the future now. 
And so have done with war before Thou comest. 
Till then. Lord God of armies, let our foes 
Have their swords broken and their cannon burst, 
And their strong cities levelled ; and while we 
War faithfully and righteously, improve. 
Civilize, christianize the lands we win 
From savage or from nature, Thon, oh God ! 
7 



9^8 FESTUS. 

"Wilt aid and hallow conquest, as of old, 
Thine own immediate nation's. But we pray 
That all mankind may make one brotherhood, 
And love and serve each other ; that all wars 
And feuds die out of nations, whether those 
Whom the sun's hot light darkens, or ourselves 
Whom he treats fairly, or the northern tribes 
Whom ceaseless snows and starry winters blench, 
Savage or civilized, — let every race. 
Red, black or white, olive, or tawny-skinned, 
Settle in peace and swell the gathering hosts 
Of the great Prince of Peace ! Oh ! may the hour 
Soon come when all false gods, false creeds, false 

prophets, — 
Allowed in Thy good purpose for a time, — 
Demolished, the great world shall be at last, 
The mercy-seat of God, the heritage 
Of Christ, and the possession of the Spirit, 
The comforter, the wisdom ! shall all be 
One land, one home, one friend, one faith, one law, 
Its ruler God, its practice righteousness. 
Its life peace ! For the one true faith we pray 
There is but one in Heaven and there shall be 
But one on earth, the same which is in Heaven. 
Prophecy is more true than history. 
Grant us our prayers, we pray. Lord ! in the name 
And for the sake of Thy 'Son Jesus Christ, 
Our Saviour and Redeemer, who with Thee, 
And with the Holy Spirit, reigneth God 
Over all worlds, one blessed Trinity ! 

The Crowd. Amen ! [part. 

Lucifer. Well, friends, we '11 sing a hymn ; then 
I give it out, and you sing — all of you. 

Oh ! Earth is cheating Earth 
From age to age for ever ; 



FESTUS. (^ 

She laughs at faitli and worth, 
And dreams she sliall die never ; 
Never, never, never ! 
And dreams she shall die never. 

And Hell is cursing Hell 

From age to age for ever; 
Its groans ring out the knell 

Of souls that may die never ; 
Never, never, never ! 
Of souls that may die never. 

But Heaven is blessing Heaven 

From age to age for ever ; 
And its thanks to God are given 

For bliss that can die never ; 
Never, never, never ! 
For bliss that can die never. 

My blessing be upon ye all ; now go ! 

Festus. I Avonder what these people make of thee. 

Lucifer. Ay, manner 's a great matter. 

Festus. They deserve 

All the rebuke thou gavest them and more. 
What mountains of delusion men have reared ! 
How every age hath bustled on to build 
Its shadowy mole — its monumental dream ! 
How faith and fancy, in the mind of man, 
Have spuriously mingled, and how much 
Shall pass away for aye, as pass before 
Yon sun, the Lord of steadfastness and change, 
The visionary landscapes of the skies ; — 
The golden capes far stretching into Heaven, 
The snow-piled cloud-crags, the bright winged isles 
TVliich dot the deep, impassive, ocean air 
Like a disbanded rainbow, of all hues, 
Fit for translated fairy's Paradise ; — 



100 FESTUS. 

Or as before the eye of musing child, 

The faces Fancy forms in clouds and lire 

Of glowing angel or of darkening fiend. 

Arts, superstition, arms, philosophy, 

Have each in turn possessed, betrayed, and mocked us. 

Yes, vain philosophy, thine hour is come ! 

Thy lips were lined with the immortal lie, 

And dyed with all the look of truth. Men saw, 

Believed, embraced, detested, cast thee off. 

Those lights, the morn of Truth's immortal day, 

As thou didst falsely swear them, have they not 

Vanished, the mere auroras of the mind? 

And thou didst vow to gather clear again 

The fallen waters of humanity ; 

To smooth the flaw from out an eye ; to piece 

A pounded pearl. Thank God ! I am a man ; 

Not a philosopher ! Rivers may rot, 

Never revive the root of oak firebolted. 

Come, let us to the hills ! where none but God 

Can overlook us ; for I hate to breathe 

The breaths and think the thoughts of other men. 

In close and clouded cities, where the sky 

Frowns like an angry Father mournfully. 

I love the hills and I love loneliness. 

And oh ! I love the woods, those natural fanes 

Whose very air is holy ; and we breathe 

Of God ; for He doth come in special place, 

And, while we worship, He is there for us ! 

Lucifer. It is time that something should be 
done for the poor. 
The sole equality on earth is death ; 
Now, rich and poor are both dissatisfied. 
I am for judgment : that will settle both. 
Nothing is to be done without destruction. 
Death is the universal salt of states ; 



FESTUS. 101 

Blood is the base of all things — law ana war, 
I could tame this lion age to follow me. 
I should Hke to macadamize the world ; 
The road to Hell wants mending. 

Festus. Come away ! 

Scene — The Surface, 
Lucifer and Festus. 

Lucifer. Wilt ride ? 

Festus. I 'U have an hour's ride. 

Lucifer. Be mine the steeds ! be me the guide ! 
Come hither, come hither, 
My brave black steed ! 
And thou, too, his fellow, 
Hither with speed ! 
Though not so fleet 
As the steeds of Death, 
Your feet are as sure, 
Ye have longer breath. 
Ye have drawn the world 
Without wind or bait. 
Six thousand years. 
And it waxeth late ; 
So take me this once. 
And again to my home, 
And rest ye and feast ye. 
They come, they come. 

Festus. Tossing their manes like 
Pitchy surge ; and lashing 
Their tails into a 
Tempest ; their eyes flashing, 
Like shooting thunderbolts. 

Lucifer. Come, know your masters, colts I 
Up, and away ! 



102 FESTUS. 

Festus. Hurrah ! hurrah ! 
The noblest pace the world e'er saw. 
I swear by Heaven we '11 beat the sun, 
In the longest heat that ever was run ; 
If we keep it up as we have begun. 

Lucifer. I told thee my steeds 
Were a gallant pair. 

Festus. And they were not thine, 
They might be divine. 

Lucifer. Thine is named Ruin ; 
And Darkness mine. 

Festus. Like all of thy deeds 
Now that 's unfair. 

Lucifer. A civiller and gentler beast 
Thou hast never crossed at least. 
Now, look around ! 

Festus. Why, this is France. 

Nature is here like a living romance. 
Look at its vines and streams and skies, 
Its glancing feet and dancing eyes ! 

Lucifer. 'T is a strange nation, light yet strong ^ 
Fierce of heart and blithe of tongue ; 
Prone to change ; so fond of blood 
She wounds herself to quaff her own. 

Festus. Oh ! it 's a brave and lovely land ; 
And well deserving every good 
"VVTiich others wish themselves alone, 
Could she but herself command. , 

Lucifer. On ! on ! no more delay ! 
Or we '11 not ride round 
The world all day. 

Festus. Good horse, get off the ground ! 

Lucifer. Sit firm ! and if our horses please. 
We will take at once the Pyrenees. 
*T was bravely leapt ! 



FESTUS. 103 

Festus. Ay, this is Spain : 
Europe's last land 
'T will e'er remain ; 
Last in the progress of the earth ; 
The last in liberty ; 
The last in wealth and worth ; 
The last in bigotry. 

Lucifer. Turn thy steed, and slacken rein ; 
Quick ! we must be back again : 
O'er the vale hid in the mountain, 
O'er the merry forest fountain ; 
Ruin and Darkness ! we must fly 
O'er crag and rift, 
vSwift — swift — '- swift 
As the glance of an eye. 

Festus. That is Italy — the grave 
And resurrection of the slave. 

Lucifer. And there lies Greece, whose soul 
Men say hath fled. 

Festus. Perhaps some God may come. 
And raise the dead. 

Lucifer. Norward now we '11 hold our course. 
Thine I think is the bolder horse ; 
But bear him up with a harder hand ! 
Rough riding this o'er Swisserland. 

Festus. So all have found it who have tried ; 
High as their Alps the people's pride, 
Never to have bowed before 
The tyrant or the conqueror. 

Lucifer. Away, away ! before thee lie 
The fields and floods of Germany. 

Festus. Well I love thee. Father-land ! 
Sire of Europe, as thou art ! 
Be free ! and crouch no more, but stand ! 
Thy noblest son will take thy part. 



104 FESTUS. 

Oh ! sooner let the mountains bend 
Beneath the clouds, when tempests lour, 
Than nations stoop their sky compeering heads 
In homage to some petty despot's power ! 
The worm which suiFers mincing into parts, 
May sprout forth heads and tails, but grows no 
hearts. 

Lucifer. There lies Austria ! Famous land 
For fiddlesticks and sword-in-hand. [call. 

Festus. And Poland, whom truly unhappy we 
Unworthy to rise — unwilling to fall. 
Forge into swords thy feudal chain ! 
Smite e'en the souls of foes in twain ! 
The fetters have been bound in vain ' 
Round England's arms : and we are free 
As the souls of our sires in Heaven which be. 
That earth should have so few 
Men, Fathers, like to you ! 

Lucifer. What matter who be free or slaves ; 
For all there is one tyranny, the grave's ; 
Or freedom, may be. On ! on ! haste ! 

Festus. What land is yonder wide, white waste ? 

Lucifer. Ha ! 't is Russia's gentle realm : 
Whose sceptre is the sword — wliose crown, the helm. 

Festus. I swear by every atom which exists, 
I better love this reckless ride , 
O'er hill and forest, lake and river wide ; 
O'er sunlit plain and through the mountain mistJ 
Than aught which thou hast given beside. 

Lucifer. See what a long long track 
Of dust and fire behind, 
For miles and miles aback ! 
And shrill and strong, 
As we shoot along. 
Whistles and whirrs, 



FESTUS. 105 

Like a forest of firs 
Falling, the cold north wind. 

Festus. Look ! my way I can only read 
By the sparks from the hoof of my giant steed. 

Lucifer. Where art thou now ? 

Festus. In Tartar land ; 

I know by the deserts of salt and sand. 
Nor aim nor end hath a wandering life : 
Rest reaps but rest, and strife but strife. 
With the nations round 
They ne'er have mixed ; 
For good or ill 
They stand all still ; 
Their bodies but rove, 
Their minds are fixed. 
And yonder lies old China's wall. 
Where gods of gold do men enthral ; 
Gods whose gold 's their only worth. 

Lucifer. Well, is not gold the god of earth ? 
Now southward, hey ! for Hindostan ! 
The sun beats down both beast and man., 
Insect and herb for life do gasp ; 
The river reeks and faints the asp. 

Festus. But blithe are we, 
And our steeds, I trow ; 
And the mane of mine 
Yet bears the snow 
Which fell on us 
By Caucasus. 
By the four beasts ! but this is warm. 

Lucifer. Away ! away ! 
Nor stint nor stay ; 
We '11 reach the sea before yon storm. 

Festus. Wilt take the sea ? 

Lucifer. Ay, that will we ! 



106 FESTUS. 

And swim as we ride, 

Our steeds astride ; 

Come leap, leap off with me ! 

Festus. What ? shall we leap 
Sheer off this steep, 
A mile the sea above ? 

Lucifer. Leap as to save 
From worse than a grave 
The maid thou most dost love ! 

Festus. There is a rapture in the headlong leap, 
The wedgelike cleaving of the closing deep ! 
A feeling full of hardihood and power 
With which we court the waters that devour. 
Oh ! 't is a feeling great, sublime, supreme. 
Like the extatic influence of a dream, 
To speed one's way thus o'er the sliding plain ; 
And make a kindred being with the main. 

Lucifer. By Chaos ! this is gallant sport ; 
A league at every breath ; 
Methinks if I ever have to die, 
I '11 ride this rate to death. 

Festus. Away, away upon the whitening tide. 
Like lover hastening to embrace his bride. 
We hurry faster than the foam we ride. 
Dashing aside the waves which round us cling, 
With strength like that which lifts an eagle's wing 
Where the stars dazzle and the angels sing. 

Lucifer. We scatter the spray. 
And break through the billows, 
As the wind makes way 
Through the leaves of willows ! [figlit : 

Festus. In vain they urge their armies to the 
Their surge-crests crumble 'neath our stroke of 

might. 
We meet and fear not ; mount — noAv rise, now fall — - 



FESTUS. 107 

And dare, witli full-nerved arm, the rage of all. 
Through anger-swollen wave or sparkling spray, 
Nothing it recks ; we hold our perilous way- 
Right onward ! till we feel the whirling brain 
llins with the maddening; music of the main ; 
Till the fixed eyeball strives and strams to ken, 
Yet loathes to see the shore and haunts of men ; 
And the blood, half starting through each ridgy vein, 
In the unwieldy hand sets black with pain. 
Then let the tempest cloud on cloud come spread. 
And tear the stormy terrors of his head ; 
Let the wild sea-bird wheel around my brow, 
And shriek — and swoop — and flap her wing as now ! 
It gladdens ! on ! ye boisterous billows, roll ! 
And keep my body ; ye have ta'en my soul. 
Thou element ! the type which God hath given, 
I"or eyes and hearts too earthy, of His Heaven ! 
Were Heaven a mockery, I would never mourn 
While o'er thy bosom I might still be borne ; 
While yet to me the power and joy was given 
To fling my breast on thine, and mingle earth with 
Heaven. 

Lucifer. See yonder ! now we quit the main ; 
For here 's the Cape, here 's land again, — 
And scour we must o'er Afric's plain. 

Festds. Away, away ! on either hand 
Nor town nor tower. 
Nor shade nor shower — 
Nothing but sun and sand. 

Lucifer. See, there they are ! I knew, right soon, 
We would light on the mountains of the moon. 
Over them ! over, nought forbids ! 

Festus. Yonder the Nile and the Pyramids ? 
Hurrah ! by my soul ! 
At every bound 



108 FESTUS. 

I see, I feel 

The earth rush round. 

I see the mountains slide away — 

That side night and this side day. 

Lucifer. Shall we go to America ! 

Festus. Why, have we time ? 

Lucifer. Oh, plenty ; 

Be there, too, ere we reckon twenty. 
Another run, another bound ! 
And we shall leave this lion ground. 

Festus. The sea again ! the swift bright sea ! 

Lucifer. Hold hard, and follow me ! 
Well, now we have travelled upon the waves, 
Wilt travel a time beneath ? 
And visit the sea-born in their caves ; 
And look on the rainbow-tinted wreath 
Of weeds, beset with pearls, wherewith 
The mermaid binds her long green hair, 
Or rouse the sea-snake from his lair ? 

Festus. Ay, ay ! down let us dive ! 

Lucifer. Look up ! we lack not stars ; 
And every star thou seest 's alive : 
A little globe of life — light — love. 
Whose every atom is a living being ; 
Each the other's bosom seeing. 
Each enlightening the other. 

Festus. Oh ! how unlike the world above, 
Where each doth mainly, vainly strive 
To dim or to outshine his brother ! 

Lucifer. Come on ! come on ! 

Festus. Are those bright spars, 

Or eyes of things which ne'er forgive. 
That seem to play on us, and glare 
With rage that we so far should dare 
To search the hidden deeps, 



FESTUS. 109 

Where tide, the moonslave, sleeps ? 

Where the wind breathes not, and the wave 

Walks softlj as above a grave ; — 

Where coral worms, in countless nations. 

Build rocks up from the sea's foundations ; — 

Where the islands strike their roots 

Far from the old mainland ; 

And spring like desert-fruits, 

Shook off by God's strong hand, 

Up from their bed of sand. 

LcTok, listen ! there is music in the cave, 

A\Tiere ocean sleeps, and brightness in the wave 

The sea-bird makes its pillow, and the star, 

Last born of Heaven, its azure mirror ; — far 

And wide, the pale, fine, fire of ocean flows, 

Softly sublime like lightnings in repose — 

Till roused, anon, afar its flaming spray it throws. 

Lucifer. There ! now we stand 
On the world's-end-land ! 
Over the hills 
Away we go ! 
Through fire, and snow, 
And rivers, whereto 
All others are rills. 

Festus. Through the lands of silver, 
The lands of gold ; 
Through lands untrodden, 
And lands untold. 

Lucifer. By strait and bay 
We must away ; 
Through swamp, and plain, 
And hurricane ; 

Festus. And that dark cloud of slaves 
Wliich yet may rise ; — 
Though noudit shall blot the bannered stars 



110 FESTUS. 

From Freedom's skies. 

America ! lialf-brother of the world ! 

With something good and bad of every land ; 

Greater than thee have lost their seat — 

Greater scarce none can stand. 

Thj flag now flouts the skies, 

The highest under Heaven ; 

Save the red cross, whereto are given 

All victories. 

Lucifer. Our horses snort and snuff the sea, 
And pant for where we ought to be. 

Festus. Well, here we are! and as we flew*in, 
I said, let Darkness follow Ruin ! [ness, come ! 

Lucifer. 'T was right. Spur on ! Come, Dark- 
Think of thy well-strown stall ! 

Festus. For me, I care not what's to come, 
Nor for the fate by which I fall ; 
But I would that I were Ocean's son, 
The solitary brave, 
Like yon sea-snake, to climb upon 
The crest of the bounding wave. 
Oh ! happy, if at last I lie 
Within some pearled and coral cave ; 
Wliile over head the booming surge 
And moaning billow shall chaunt my dirge ; 
Aiid the storm- blast, as it sweepeth by. 
Shall, answering, howl to the mermaid's sigh. 
And the nightwind's mournful minstrelsy. 
Their requiem over my grave. [and high noon, 

Lucifer. Through morn and midnight, sunset 
One hour hath ta'en us ; — o'er all land and sea. 
O'er opening earthquake and iceberg, have we 
Swept in swift safety. 'T will be over, soon. 
Behold the common, narrow sea. 
Which, like a strong man's arm, 



FESTUS. Ill 

Keeps back two foes whose lips are white, 
Wliose hearts with rage are warm. 

Festus. England ! my country, great and free ! 
Heart of the world, I leap to thee ! 
How shall my country fight 
When her foes rise against her, 
But with thine arm, Sea ! 
The arm which thou lent'st her ? 
Where shall my country be buried 
When she shall die? 
Eattli is too scant for her grave : 
Where shall she lie ? 
She hath brethren more than a hundred, 
And they all want room ; 
They may die and may lie where they live — 
They shall not mix with her doom. 
Wliere but Avithin thine arms, 
O sea, sea? 

Wlierein she hath lived and gloried, 
Let her rest be ! 

We will rise and will say to the sea, 
Flow over her ! 

We will cry to the depths of the deep, 
Cover her ! 

The world hath dra^ATi his sword, 
And his red shield drips before him : — 
But, my country, rise ! 
Thou canst never die 
While a foe hath life to fly ; 
Rise land, and gore him ! 

Lucifer. Now get on land, and hie along 
O'er forest, copse, and glade ; 
We have but a league or two more to go 
Before our journey 's made ; 
With speed that flings the sun into the shade! 



112 FESTUS. 

Festus. See the gold sunshine patching, 
And streaming and streaking across 
The gray-green oaks ; and catching, 
By its soft brown beard, the moss. 

Lucifer. Ah ! here we get an open plain : 
Here we '11 get down. 
Away, good steeds ! be ofif again ! 

Festus. We must be near to Town. 
I am bound to thee for ever 
By the pleasure of this day ; 
Henceforth we will never sever, 
Come what come may. 

Scene — A Village Feast. Evening. 

Festus, Lucifer and Others. 

[quite close, 
Festus. It is getting dark. One has to walk 

To see the pretty faces that we meet. 

Lucifer. A disagreeable necessity, 
Truly. 

Festus. We '11 rest upon this bridge. I am tired. 
Yon tall slim tree ! does it not seem as made 
For its place there, a kind of natural maypole ? — 
Beyond, the lighted stalls stored with the good 
Things of our childhood's world, and behind them. 
The shouting showman and the clashing cymbal ; 
The open doored cottages and blazing hearth, — 
The little ones running up with naked feet, 
And cake in either hand, to their mother's lap, — 
Old and young laughing, schoolboys with their 

play-things. 
Clowns cracking jokes, and lasses with sly eyes, 
And the smile settling in their sunflecked cheeks, 
Like noon upon the mellow apricot ; — 
Make up a scene I can for once give in to. 



FESTUS. 113 

It must please all, the social and the selfish. 
Are they not happy ? 

Lucifer. ^^liy? it matters not. 

They seem so : that's enough. 

Festus. But not the same. [like 

Lucifer. Yet truth and falsehood meet in seeming, 
The falling leaf and shadow on the pool's face. 
And these are joys, like beauty, but skin deep. 

Festus. Remove all such and what's the joy of 
'Tis they create the appetite of life — [earth ? 

Give zest and relish to the lot of miUions. 
And take the taste for them away — what's left ? 
A dry ungainly skeleton of soul. 

Lucifer. Power is aye above the soul and joy 
Below it. Pleasure men prefer to power. 

(Children at play) 

Festus. Play away, good ones ! 

An old Man. Pity the poor blind man ! 

FzsTUS. Here is substantial pity. 

Old Man. Heaven reward you ! 

Festus. Blind as the blue skies after sunset. Blind! 
And I am tired of looking on what is. 
One might as well see beauty never more, 
As look upon it with an empty eye. 
I would this world were over. I am tired. 
Nought happens but what happens to one's self; 
And all hath happened I have wished, and more. 
Oar pleasures all pass from us, one by one, 
"With that relief which sighing gives the heart, 
Though each sigh leaves it lower. It is sad 
To think how few our pleasures really are : 
And for the which we risk eternal good. 
There's nothing that can satisfy one's self, 
Except one's self. Well, it is very sad, 
And by the time we come of age we have felt 
8 



114 FESTUS. 

In one degree or other, all that age 

Can offer. We have reaped our field ere noon. 

The rest is reproduction ; sowing — reaping — 

Losing again. Toil and gain tire alike. 

We cannot live too slowly to be good 

And happy, nor too much by line and square. 

But youth is burning to forestall its nature, 

And will not wait for time to ferry it 

Over the stream, but flings itself into 

The flood, and perishes. And yet, why not? 

There is no charm in time as time, nor good. 

The long days are no happier than the short ones. 

'Tis sometime now since I was here. We leave 

Our home m youth — no matter to what end ; — 

Study — or strife — or pleasure, or what not : 

And coming back in few short years, we find 

All as we left it, outside ; the old elms, 

The house, grass, gates, and latchet's selfsame click : 

But lift that latchet, — all is changed as doom : 

The servants have forgotten our step, and more 

Than half of those who knew us know us not. 

Adversity, prosperity, the grave. 

Play a round game with friends. On some the world 

Hath shot its evil eye, and they are passed 

From honour and remembrance, and a stare 

Is all the mention of their names receives ; 

And people know no more of them than of 

The shapes of clouds at midnight, a year back. 

Lucifer. Let us move on to where the dancing is ; 
We soon shall see how happy they all are. 
Here is a loving couple quarrelling. 
And there, anothei'. It is quite distressing. 
See yonder. Two men fighting ! 

Festus. What avail 

These vile exceptions to the rule of joy ? 



FESTUS. 115 

Lucifer. Behold the happiness of which thou 
spakest ! 
The highest hills are miles below the skj, 
And so far is the lightest heart below 
True happiness. 

Festus. This is a snakelike world, 

And always hath its tail within its mouth, 
As if it ate itself, and moralled time. 
The world is like yon children's merry-go-round ; 
What men admire are carriages and hobbies. 
Which the exalted manikins enjoy. 
There is a noisy ragged crowd below 
Of urchins drives it round, who only get 
The excitement for their pains — best gain perhaps : 
For it is not they who labour that grow dizzy 
Nor sick — that's for the idle, proud above, 
Who soon dismount, more weary of enjoying 
Than those below of working ; and but fair. 
It is wretchedness or recklessness alone 
Keeps us alive. Were we happy we should die. 
Yet what is death ? I like to think on death : 
It is but the appearance of an apparition. 
One ought to tremble ; but oughts stand for nothing. 
I hate the thought of wrinkling up to rest ; 
The toothlike aching ruin of the body. 
With the heart all out, and nothino; left but ed^re. 
Give me the long high bounding feel of life, 
Which cries, let me but leap unto my grave. 
And I'll not mind the when nor where. We never 
Care less for life than when enjoying it. 
Oh ! I should love to die. Wliat is to die ? 
I cannot hold the meaning more than can 
An oak's arms clasp the blast that blows on it. 
There is an air-like something which must be. 
And yet not to be seen, nor to be touched. 



116 FESTUS. 

I am made up to die ; for having been 
Every thing, there is nothing ^eft but nothing 
To be again. 

Lucifer. Hark ! here is a ballad-singer. 

Ballad-singer. All of my own composing ! 
■ Festus. Yes, Yes — we know. 

Singer. My gipsy maid ! my gipsy maid ! 
I bless and curse the day 
I lost the light of hfe, and caught 
The grief which maketh gray. 
Would that the light which blinded me 
Had saved me on my way I 

My night-haired love ! so sweet she was, 
So fair and blithe was she ; 
Her smile was brighter than the moon's, 
Her eyes the stars might see. 

I met her by her lane-spread tent, 

Beside a moss-green stone. 

And bade her make, not mock, my fate, 

My fortune was her own. 

Thou art but yet a boy, she said. 

And I a woman grown. 

I am a man in love, I cried ; 

My heart was early manned : 

She smiled, and only drooped her eyes, 

And then let go my hand. 

We stood a minute : neither spake 

What each must understand. 

I told her, so she would be mine 
And follow where I went, 
She straight should have a bridal bower 
Instead of gipsy tent. 



FESTUS. 117 

Or would she have me wend with her, 
The world between should fall ; 
For her I would fling up faith and friends, 
And name, and fame, and all. 

Her smile so bright froze while I spake, 
And ice was in her eye ; 
So near, it seemed ere touch her heart 
I might have kissed the sky. 

I said that if she loved to rule, 

Or if she longed to reign, 

I would make her Queen of every race 

Which tearlilvc trode the world's sad face, 

Or bleed at every vein. 

She laid her finger on her lip. 
And pointed to the sky ; 
There is no God to come, she said : 
Dost thou not fear to die ? 

And what is God, I said, to thee ? 
Thy people worship not. 
The good, the happy, and the free, 
She said, they need no God. 

I looked until I lost mine eyes ; 

I felt as though I were 

In a dark cave, with one weak light — 

The light of life — with her ; 

And that was wasting fast away ; 

I watched but would not stir. 

Again she took my hand in hers, 
And read it o'er and o'er ; 
Ah ! eyes so young, so sweet, I sa'.d. 
Make as they read love's lore. 



118 FESTUS. 

She held my hand — I trembled whilst — 
For sorely soon I felt 
She made the love-cross she foretold, 
And all the woe she dealt. 

Unhappy I should be, she said, 
And young to death be given ; 
I told her I believed in her, 
Not in the stars of Heaven. 

Hush ! we breathe Heaven, she said, and bowed ; 
And the stars speak through me. 
Let Heaven, I cried, take care of Heaven ! 
I only care for thee. 

She shrank : I looked, and begged a kiss : 
I knew she had one for me ; 
She would deny me none, she said. 
But give me none would she. 



My gipsy mind ! my gipsy maid ! 
'Tis three long years like this. 
Since there I gave and got from thee 
That meeting, parting kiss. 

I saw the tears start in her eye. 
And trickle down her cheek, 
Like falling stars across the sky, 
Escaping from their Maker's eye : 
I saw, but spared to speak. 

Go, and forget ! she said, and slid 
Below her lowly tent. 
I will not, cannot — hear me, girl I 
She heard not, and I went. 

At eve, by sunset, I was there, 
Tiie tent was there no more ; 



FESTUS. 119 

The fire wliicli warmed her flickered still — 
The fire she sat before. 

I stood by it, till through the dark 
I saw not where it lay ; 
And then like that my heart went out 
In ashy grief and gray. 

My gipsy maid ! my gipsy maid ! 

Oh ! let me bless this day ; 

This day it was I met thee first, 

Ami yet it shall be and is cursed, 

For thou hast gone away. [friend. 

Lucifer. Another, please — not quite so gloomy, 

Girl. I wonder if the tale it tells be true. 

Singer. I dare say — but you want a merrier. 
Every mans life has its apocrypha ; 
Mine has, at least. I have said more than need be. 
It happened, too, when I was very young. 
"VYe never meet such gipsies when we are old ; 
And yet we more comphiin of youth than age. 
Now, make a ring, good people. Let me breathe ! 

\_Sings. 
Oh ! the wee green neuk, the sly green neuk. 

The wee sly neuk for me ! 
Whare the wheat is wavin' bright and bro\Vn, 

And the wind is fresh and free. 
Whare I weave wild weeds, and out o' reeds 

Kerve whissles as I lay ; 
And a douce low voice is murmurin' by 

Through the lee-lang simmer day. 
Oh ! the wee green neuk, &c. 

And whare a' things luik as though they lo'ed 

To languish in tlie sun ; 
And that if they feed the fire they dree, 

They wadna ae pang were gone. 



120 FESTUS. 

Whare the lift aboon is still as death, 

And bright as life can be ; 
Wliile the douce low voice says, na, na, na ! 

But ye mauna luik sae at me. 
Oh ! the wee green neuk, &c. 

Whare the lang rank bent is saft and cule, 

And freshenin' till the feet ; 
And the spot is sly, and the spinnie high, 

Whare my luve and I mak seat : 
And I teaze her till she rins, and then 

T catch her roun' the tree ; 
While the poppies shak' their heids and blush : 

Let 'em blush till they drap, for me ! 

Oh ! the wee green neuk, &c. [scenes 

Festus. And all who know such feelings and such 
Will, I am sure, reVard you. Here — take this. 

Others. And this, and this — too ! 

Singer. Thank ye all, good friends ! [truth, 

Festus. There 's much that hath no merit but it3 
And no excuse but nature. Nature does 
Never wrong : 't is society which sins. 
Look on the bee upon the wing among flowers ; 
How brave, how bright his life ! Then mark him 

hived. 
Cramped, cringing in his self built, social cell. 
Thus is it in the world-hive : most where men 
Lie deep in cities as in drifts — death drifts, 
Nosing each other like a flock of sheep ; 
Not knowing and not caring whence nor whither 
They come or go, so that they fool together. [say 

Lucifer. It is quite fair to halve these lives and 
This side is nature's, that society's. 
When both are side-views only of one thing. 

Farmer. I am glad to see you come among us, 
sir. 



FESTUS. 121 

Parson. "Why, I have but little comfort in these 
pastimes ; 
And any heart, turned Godwards, feels more joy 
In one short hour of prayer, than e'er was raised 
By all the feasts on earth since their foundation. 
But no one will believe us ; as if we 
Had never known the vain things of the world, 
Nor lain and slept in sin's seducing shade, 
Listless, until God woke us ; made us feel 
"We should be up and stirring in the sun ; 
For every thing had to be done ere night. 
"Wliat is all this joy and jollity about ? 
Grant there may be no sin. "What good is it? 

Farmer. I can't defend these feasts. Sir, and 
can't blame. [I rejoice 

Parson. Good evening, friends ! "Why, Festus ! 
We meet again. I have a young friend here, 
A student — who hath staid with us of late. 
You would be glad, I know, to know each other. 
Therefore be known so. 

Festus. You are a student. Sir. 

Student. I profess little ; but it is a title 
A man may claim perhaps with modesty, [to live 

Festus. True. All mankind are students. How 
And how to die forms the great lesson still. 
I know what study is : it is to toil 
Hard, through the hours of the sad midnight watch, 
At tasks which seem a systematic curse, 
And course of bootless penance. Night by night, 
To trace one's thought as if on iron leaves ; 
And sorrowful as though it were the mode 
And date of death we wrote on our own tombs : 
"Wring a slight sleep out of the couch, and see 
The self-same moon, which lit us to our rest. 
Her place scarce changed perceptibly in Heaver 



122 FESTUS. 

Now light us to renewal of our toils. — 
This, to the young mind, wild and all in leaf, 
Which knowledge, grafting, paineth. Fruit soon 

comes. 
And more than all our troubles pays us powers ; 
So that we joy to have endured so much : 
That not for nothing have we slaved and slain 
Ourselves almost. And more ; it is to strive 
To bring the mind up to one's own esteem : 
Who but the generous fail ? It is to think. 
While thought is standing thick upon the brain 
As dew upon the brow — for thought is brain-sweat ; 
And gathering quick and 'dark, like storms in 

summer. 
Until convulsed, condensed, in lightning sport, 
It plays upon the heavens of the mind, — 
Opens the hemisphered abysses here. 
And we become revealers to ourselves. [on high, 

Student. When night hath set her silver lamp 
Then is the time for study ; when Heaven's light 
Pours itself on the page, like prophecy 
On time, unglooming all its mighty meanings ; 
It is then we feel the sweet strength of the stars, 
And magic of the moon. 

Lucifer. It 's a bad habit. 

Student. And wisdom dwells in secret and on 
high. 
As do the stars. The sun's diurnal glare 
Is for the daily herd ; but for the wise. 
The cold pure radiance of the night-born light, 
Wherewith is inspiration of the truth. 
There was a time when I would never ao 
To rest before the sun rose ; and for that. 
Through a like length of time as that now gone, 
The world shall speak of me six thousand years 
hence. 



PESTUS. 123 

Lucifer. How know you tliat the world wont 
end to-morrow ? 

Pakson. I now, an early riser, love to hail 
The dreamy struggles of the stars with light. 
And the recovering breath of earth, sleep-drowned, 
Awakening to the wisdom of the sun, 
And life of light within the tent of Heaven ; — 
To kiss the feet of Morning as she walks 
In dewy light along the hills, while they, 
All odorous as an angel's fresh-culled crown, 
Unveil to her their bounteous loveliness. 

Student. I am devote to study. "Worthy books 
Are not companions — they are soUtudes : 
We lose ourselves in them and all our cares. 
The further back we search the human mind, — 
Mean in the mass, but in the instance great — 
"Which starting first with Deities and stars 
And broods of beings earth-born. Heaven-begot, 
And all the bright side of the broad world, now 
Doats upon dreams and dim atomic truths, 
Is all for comfort and no more for glory — 
The nobler and more marvellous it shews. 
Trifles like these make up the present time ; 
The Iliad and the Pyramids the past. 

Festus. The future will have glory not the less. 
I can conceive a time when the world shall be 
Much better visibly, and when, as far 
As social life and its relations tend, 
Men, morals, manners shall be Hfted up 
To a pure height we know not of nor dream ; — 
"When all men's rights and duties shall be clear, 
And charitably exercised and borne ; 
"When education, conscience, and good deeds 
Shall have just equal sway, and civil claims ; — 
Great crimes shall be cast out, as were of old 



124 FESTUS. 

Devils possessing madmen : — Truth shall reign, 
Nature shall be rethroned, and man sublimed. 

Student. Oh ! then may Heaven come down 
again to earth ; 
And dwell with her, as once, like to a friend. 

Lucifer. As like each other as a sword and 
scythe. 
Oh ! then shall lions mew and lambkins roar ! 

Festus. And having studied — what next ? 

Student, Much I long 

To view the capital city of the world. 
The mountains, the great cities, and the sea, 
Are each an era in the life of youth. 

Festus. There to get worldly ways, and thoughts, 
and schemes ; 
To learn to detect, distrust, despise mankind — 
To ken a false factitious glare amid -much 
That shines with seeming saintlike purity — 
To gloss misdeeds — to trifle with great truths — 
To pit the brain against the heart, and plead 
Wit before wisdom, — these are the world's ways : 
It learns us to lose that in crowds which we 
Must after seek alone — our innocence ; 
And when the crowd is gone. 

Student. Not only that : . 

There all great things are round one. Interests. 
Mighty and mountainous of estimate. 
Are daily heaped or scattered 'neath the eye. 
Great deeds, great thoughts, great schemes, and 

crimes, and all 
Which is in purpose, or in practice, great 
Of human nature — there are common things. 
Men make themselves be deathless as in spite; 
As if they waged some lineal feud with time ; 
As though their fathers were immortal, too, 



FESTUS. 125 

And immortality an every-day • 

Accomplishment. 

Festus. Fie ! fie ! 'tis more for this i 

Amid gayer people and more wanton ways, 
To give a loose to all the lists of youth — 
To train your passion flowers high ahead, 
And bind them on your brow as others do. 
The mornlit revel and the shameless mate — 
The tabled hues of darkness and of blood — 
The published bosom and the crowning smile — 
The cup excessive ; and if aught there be 
More vain than these or wanton — that to have — 
Have all but always in intent, effect, 
Or fact. Nay, nay, deny it not : I know. 
Youth hath a strange and strong desire to try 
All feelings on the heart : it is very wrong. 
And dangerous, and deadly : strive against it ! 

Student. It might be some old sage was warn- 
ing us. [from pains 

Festus. Youth might be wise. We suffer less 
Than pleasures. 

Student. I should like to see the world, 
And gain that knowledge which is — 

Festus. Barrener 

Than ice ; possessing and producing nought 
But means and forms of death or vanity. 
The world is just as hollow as an eggshell. 
It is a surface not a solid, mind : 
And all this boasted knowledge of the world 
To me seems but to mean acquaintance with 
Low things, or evil, or indifferent. [it 's worth. 

Farmer. Much more is said of knowledge than 
A man may gain all knowledge here, and yet 
Be, after death, as much in the dark as I. 

Lucifer. "Wliat makes you know of living afler 
death? 



126 FESTUS. 

•Farmer. Why, notlaing that I know ; and there 
it is, — 
But something I am told has told me so. 
No angel ever came to me to prove it ; 
And all my friends have died, and left no ghosts, [self; 

Festus. All that is good a man may learn from him- 
And much, too, that is bad. 

Parson. Nay, let me speak ! 

Aught that is good the soul receives of God 
When He hath made it His ; and until then 
Man cannot know, nor do, nor be, aught good. 
Oh ! there is nought on earth worth being known 
But God and our own souls — the God we have 
Within our hearts ; for it is not the hope, 
Nor faith, nor fear, nor notions others have 
Of God can serve us, but the sense and soul 
We have of Him within us ; and, for men, 
God loves us men each individually, 
And deals with us in order, soul by soul. 

Lucifer. What are your politics ? 

Farmer. ^ I have none. 

Lucifer. Good. 

Farmer. I have my thoughts. I am no party 
man. 
I care for measures more than men, but thmk 
Some little may depend upon the men ; 
Something in fires depends upon the grate. 

First Boy. What are your colours ? 

Second. Blue as Heaven. 

Third. And mine 

Are yellow as the sun. 

First. Mine, green as gi-ass. 

Second. Green 's forsaken, and yellow 's forsworn, 
And blue 's the colour that shall be worn. 

Student. As to religion, politics, law, and war, 



PESTUS. 127 

But little need be said. All are required, 
And all are well enough. Of liberty, 
And slavery, and tyranny we hear 
Much ; but the human mind affects extremes. 
The heart is in the middle of the system ; 
And all affections gather round the truth, 
The moderated joys and woes of life. 
I love my God, my country, kind and kin, 
Nor would I see a dog wronged of his bone. 
My country ! if a wretch should e'er arise, 
Out of thy countless sons, who would curtail 
Thy freedom, dim thy glory, — while he lives 
May all earth's peoples curse him — for of all 
Hast thou secured the blessing ; — and if one 
Exist who would not arm for liberty, 

4 

Be he too cursed living, and when dead. 
Let him be buried downwards, with his face 
Looking to Hell, and o'er his coward grave 
The hare skulk in her form. 

Lucifer. Nay, gently, friend. 

Curse nothing, not the Devil. He 's beside you — 
For aught you know. 

Student. I neither know nor care. 

{They 'pass some card-players.) 

Festus. Kings, queens, knaves, tens would trick 
the world away, 
And it were not, now and then, for some brave ace. 

Student. You see yon wretched starved old 
man ; his brow 
Grooved out with wrinkles, like the brown dry sand 
The tide of life is leaving ? 

Lucifer. Yes, I see him. 

Student. Last week he thought he was about to die ; 
So he bade gold be strewn beneath his pillow, 
Gold on a chest that he might lie and see, 



128 FESTUS. 

And gold put in a basin on his bed, 
That he might dabble with his fingers in. 
He 's going now to grope for pence or pins. 
He never gave a pin's worth in his life. 
"What would you do to him ? 

Lucifer. • I would have him wrought 

Into a living wire, which, beaten out, 
Might make a golden network for the world ; 
Then melt him inch bj inch and hell by hell. 
Where is the law of wrath. 

Student. Oh, charity ! 

It is a thought the Devil might be proud of — 
Once and away. Misers and spendtlu-ifts may 
Torment each other in the world to come. 

Festus. Men look on death as lightning, always far 
Off, or in Heaven. They know not it is in 
Themselves, a strong and inward tendency, 
The soul of every atom, every hair : 
That nature's infinite electric life, 
Escaping from each isolated frame. 
Up out of earth, or down from Heaven, becomes 
To each its proper death, and adds itself 
Thus to the great reunion of the whole. 
There is a man in mourning ! What does he here ? 

Student. He has j ust buried the only friend he had, 
And now comes hither to enjoy himself. 

Festus. AYliy will we dedicate the dead to God, 
And not ourselves, the living ? Oft we speak. 
With tears of joy and trust, of some dear friend 
As surely up in Heaven ; while that same soul. 
For aught we know, may be shuddering even in 

Hell 
To hear his name named ; or there may be no 
Soul in the case — and the fat icy worm. 
Give him a tongue, can tell us all about him. 



FESTUS. 129 

Student. Here is music. Stay. That simple 

melody 
Comes on the heart like infant innocence — 
Pure feeling pure ; while yet the new-bodied soul 
Is swinging to the motion of the heavens, 
And scarce hath caught, as yet, earth's backening 

course. [first age 

Festus. The heart is formed as earth was — its 
Formless and void, and fit but for itself; 
Then feelings half alive, just organized, 
Come next, — then creeping sports and purposes, — 
Then animal desires, delights, and loves — 
For love is the first and granite-like effect 
Of things — the longed and the highest : next 
The wild and winged desires, youth's saurian 

schemes, 
"VVliich creep and fly by turns ; which kill, and eat, 
And do disgorge each other : comes at length 
The mould of perfect matchless manhood — then 
Woman divides the heart, and multiplies it. 
The insipidity of innocence 
Palls : it is guilty, happy, and undone. 
A death is laid upon it, and it goes — 
Quits its green Eden for the sandy world, 
"Where it works out its nature, as it may. 
In sweat, smiles, blood, tears, cursings, and what not. 
And giant sins possess it ; and it worships 
"Works of the hand, head, heart — its own or others — 
A creature worship, which excludeth God's : 
The less thrusts out the greater. Warning comes, 
But the heart fears not — feels not ; till at last 
Down comes the flood from Heaven ; and that 

heart, 
Broken inwards, earthlike, to its central hell ; 
Or like the bright and burning eye we see 

9 



130 FESTUS. 

Inly, when pressed hard backwards on the brain, 
Ends and begins again — destroyed, is saved. 
Every man is the first man to himself, 
And Eves are just as plentiful as apples ; 
Nor do we fall, nor are we saved by proxy. 
The Eden we live in is our own heart ; 
And the first thing we do, of our free choice, 
Is sure and necessary to be sin. 

Lucifer. The only right men have is to be damned. 
What is the good of music, or the beauty ? 
IMusic tells no truths. 

Festus. Oh ! there is nought so sweet 

As lying and listening music from the hands. 
And singing from the lips, of one we love — 
Lips that all others should be turned to. Then 
The world w^ould all be love and song ; Heaven's 

harps 
And orbs join in : the whole be harmony — 
Distinct, yet blended — blending all in one 
Long and delicious tremble like a chord. 
But to Thee, God ! all being is a harp, 
"Wliereon Thou makest mightiest melody. 
Hast ever been in love ? 

Student. I never was. 

Festus. 'T is love which mostly destinates our life?. 
What makes the world in after life I know not, 
For our horizon alters as we age : 
Power only can make up for the lack of love — 
Power of some sort. The mind at one time grows 
So fast, it fails ; and then its stretch is more 
Than its strength; but, as it opes, love fills it up, 
Like to the stamen in the flower of life, 
Till for the time we well-nigh grow all love ; 
And soon we feel the w^ant of one kind heart 
To love what 's well, and to forgive what 's ill, 



FESTUS. 131 

In us, — that heart we plaj for at all risks. 

Student. How can the heart which lies embodied 
deep, 
In blood and bone, set like a ruby eye 
Into the breast, be made a toy for beauty, 
And, vane-like, blown about by every wanton sigh? 
How can the soul, the rich star-travelled stranger, 
Who here sojourneth only for a purchase. 
Risk all the riches of his years of toil. 
And his God-vouched inheritance of Heaven, 
For one light momentary taste of love ? [sport — 

Festus. It is so ; and when once you know the 
•The crowded pack of passions in full cry — 
The sweet deceits, the tempting obstacles — 
The smile, the sigh, the tear, and the embrace — 
All the delights of love at last in one. 
With kisses close as stars in the milky way. 
In at the death you cry, though 't were your own ! 

Student. Upon my soul, most sound morality ! 
Nothing is thought of virtue, then, nor judgment ? 

Festus. Oh! everything is thought of — but not 
then. 
And — judgment — no! it is nowhere in the field. 

Student. Slow-paced and late arriving, still it 
comes. 
I cannot understand this love ; I hear 
Of its idolatry, not its respect. [giv6. 

Festus. Respect is what we owe ; love what we 
And men would mostly rather give than pay. 
Morality's the right rule for the world, 
Nor could society cohere without 
Virtue ; and there are those whose spirits walk 
Abreast of angels and the future, here. 
Respect and love thou such. 

LucTKER. Of course you wish 

Women to love you rather than love them. 



132 FESTUS. 

It is better. Now, you say you are a student. 
All things take study ; what more than the face — 
Whether your own, or hers you look and long at ? 
Tliere are many v/ays to one end : here is one : — 
You are good-looking ; but that matters little : 
It only pleases them. To please yourself 

Your face may be as ugly as the . Well, well ; 

But you must cultivate yourself: it wall pay you. 

Study a dimple ; work hard at a smile : 

The things most delicate require most pains. 

Practice the upward — now the sidelong glance — 

Now the long passionful unwinking gaze, 

Which beats itself at last, and sees air only. 

Be restless, and distress yourself for her. 

Take up her hand — press it, and pore on it — 

Let it drop — snatch it again as though you had 

Let slip so much of honor or of Heaven. 

Swear — vow by all means — never miss an oath : 

If broken, why it only spoils itself; 

It is a broken oath and not an whole one. 

Frown — toss about — let her lips be for a time : 

But steal a kiss at last like fire from Heaven. 

Weep if you can, and call the tears heat-drops. 

Droop your head — sigh deep — play the fool, in 

short, 
One hour, and she will play the fool for ever. 
Mind ! it is folly to tell women truth ; 
They would rather live on lies so they be sweet. 
Never be long in one mind to one love. 
You change your practice with your subject. All 
Differ. But yet, who knows one woman well 
By heart, knows all. It is my experience ; 
And I advise on good authority. 

So thank me for my lecture on delusion. [sight, 

Festus. Time laughs at love. It is a hateful 



FESTUS. 133 

That bald old grej-beard jeering tlie boj, Love. 

But as to women : that game lias two sides. 

Passion is from affection ; and there is nought 

So maddening and so lowering as to have 

The worse in passion. Think, when one by one, 

Pride, love, and jealousy, and fifty more 

Great feelings column up to force a heart. 

And all are beaten back — all fail — all fall : 

The tower intact : but risk it : we must learn. 

To know the world, be wise and be a fool. 

The heart will have its swing — the world its way : 

Who seeks to stop them, only throws himself down. 

We must take as we find : go as they go, 

Or stand aside. Let the world have the Avail. 

How do you think, pray, to get through tlie world ? 

Student. I mean not to get thi-ough the world 
But over it. [at all, 

Festus. Aspiring ! You will find 
The world is all up-hill when we would do ; 
All down-hill when we suffer. Nay, it will pait 
Like the Red Sea, so that the poor may pass. 
We make our compliments to wretchedness. 
And hope the poor want nothing, and are well. 
But I mean, what profession will you choose ? 
Surely you w^ill do something for a name. 

Student. Names are of much more consequence 
than things. [friend 

Festus. Well; here's our honest, all-exhorting 
The parson — here the doctor. I am sure 
The Devil might act as moderator there, 
And do mankind some service. 

Lucifer. In his way. 

Student. But I care neither for men's souls nor 
bodies. 

Festus. AYliat say you to the law ? are you am- 
bitious ? 



134 FESTUS. 

Student. Nor do I mind for other people's 
business. 
I have no heart for their predicaments : 
I am for myself. I measure every thing 
By, what is it to me ? from which I find 
I have but little in common with the mass, 
Except my meals and so forth ; dress and sleep. 
I have that within me I can live upon : 
Spider-like, spin my place out anywhere. 

Festus. To none of all the arts and sciences,— 
Astronomy nor entomology. 
Nor gunnery, for instance, then you feel 
Attracted heartily and mentally ? [fall, 

Student. AYliy no ; there are so many rise and 
One knows not which to choose. As for the stars, 
I never look on them without dismay. 
Earth has outrun them in our modern mind. 
By worlds of odds. Enough for us, it seems, 
And our cold calculators to jot down 
Their revolutions, distances, and squares ; — 
And the bright laws which stars and spirits rule, 
Are all laid out and buried grave on grave. 
The fourfold worlds and elemental spheres, 
Wliicli in concentric circles, like the ring 
That the magician stands in, from on high 
Give spiritual calling to our earth. 
And lord it over her, yet in such wise. 
That still by them we may conjoin our souls 
Unto the starry spirits of all worlds ; 
Beyond the changeful mansions of the moon. 
Beyond the burning heart of heaven, where dwell 
The governors of nature and the blest. 
All knowing spirits and celestial. 
And divine demons ; are all gone — extinct. 
There is no danger now of knowing aught 



FESTUS. 135 

Whicli ought not to be known. No more of that ! 

And you, ye planetary sons of light! 

From him who hovereth, moth-like, round the sun 

To six-mooned Uranus, Light's loftiest round. 

Your aspects, dignities, ascendancies. 

Your partile quartiles, and your plastic trines, 

And all your Heavenly houses and effects. 

Shall meet no more devout expounders here. 

You too, ye juried signs, earth's sunny path 

Upon her wheeling orbit, all farewell ! 

Your exaltations and triphcities. 

Fiery, airy, and the rest ; your falls. 

And detiiments, and governments, and gifts, 

Are all abolished. Henceforth ye shall shine 

In vain to man. Diurnal, cardinal, 

Nocturnal, equinoctial, hot or dry, 

Earthy, or moist, or feminine, or fixed. 

Luxurious, violent, bicorporate, 

Masculine, barren, and commanding, cold. 

Fruitful or watery, or what not, now 

It matters nothing. The joy of Jupiter, 

The exaltation of the Dragon's head, 

The sun's tripUcity and glorious 

Day house on high, the moon's dim detriment, 

And all the starry inclusions of all signs — 

Shall rise, and rule, and pass, and no one know 

That there are spirit-rulers of all worlds, 

"Which fraternise with earth, and, though unknown, 

Hold in the shining voices of the stars 

Communion on high, ever and everywhere. — 

The mystic charm of numbers, and the sole 

Oneness whicli is in all, of nature's great 

Triadic principle, in all things seen ; 

In man thus, as composed of thrice three forms 

Intrinsic ; first, corporeally, blood, 



136 FE3TUS. 

Bodv, and ?X)ne3 ; next, intellectivelj, 
Imagination, judgment, memory ; 
And thirdly, spiritually, mind and soul, 
And spirit, whicli unites with God the whole 
Being, and comes from and returns to Him, — 
Allures no more man's mind debased. Thus, too, 
Of alchemy ; the golden starry stone, 
Invisible, the principle of life, 
The quintessence of all the elements, 
I3 still unbought ; — still flows the stream of pearl 
Beneath the magic mountain ; still the scent 
As of a thousand amaranthine wreaths, which lures 
All life unto its sweetness, floats around 
Mistlike, the shining bath where Luna laves. 
Or Sol, bright brother of that mooned maid, 
Triumphs in light ; — the spiritual sun. 
The Heavenly Earth smaragdine, and the fire- 
Spirit of life, the live land still exist, 
Immortally, internally unseen. — 
Still breathes the Para'lisal air around* 
The universal whole ; the watery fire, 
Destructive, yet impalpable to sense. 
The initial and conclusion of the world. 
Yea, the beginning and the end of Death, 
The secret which is shared 'tween God and man. 
And which is nature only, wholly, still 
In Heavenly gloom incomprehensible 
Wait the Deific will ; yea, still the light 
Whereto all elements contribute, bums 
About us and within us, world and soul ; — 
The primal sperm and matter of the world. 
Whose centre is the limit of all things, — 
The snowy gold, the star and spirit seed 
Which is to render rich and deatliless all, — 
The self-begot, self-wedded, and self-bom, 



FESTUS. 137 

Wkicli the wind carries in its womb, all have, 

And few receive ; the spirit of the earth, 

The water of immortal life still lives : — 

The universal solvent of disease 

Still bounds through nature's veins ; and still, in fine, 

The secrets only to be told by fire 

Starry or beamless, central and extreme, 

Burn to be born. And other natures may 

Use them, and do. In Democrorrron's hall 

Still sits the universal mystery 

Throned in itself and ministered unto 

By its own members : — Man, ahis ! alone. 

The recreant spirit of the universe, 

GDntemns the operations of the light ; 

Loves surface-knowledcre ; calls the ciimes of crowds 

Virtue: adoresthe useful vices ; licks 

The gory dust from off the feet of war, 

And swears it food for gods, though fit for fiends 

Only : — reversing just the Devil's state 

When first he entered on this orb of man's, — 

A fallen angel's form, a reptile 's soul. 

Lucifer. Oh ! this is libellous to man and fiend 
And brute together. 

Student. All are art and part 

Of the same mystic treason. But enough ; — 
The most material, immaterial 
Departments of pure wisdom are despised. 
For well we know that, properly prepared, 
Souls self-adapted knowledge to receive 
Are bv the truth desired, illumined ; man's 
Spirit, extolled, dilated, clarified, 
By holy meditation and divine 
Lore, fits him to convene with purer powers 
Which do unseen surround us aye and gladden 
Li human good and exaltation ; thus 



138 FESTUS. 

The face of Heaven is not more clear to one, 
Than to another outwardly ; but one 
By strong intention of his soul perceives, 
Attracts, unites himself to essences 
And elemental spirits of wider range 
And more beneficent nature, by whose aid 
Occasion, circumstance, futurity 
Impress on him their image, and impart 
Their secrets to his soul ; thus chance and lot 
Ai^e sacred things ; thus dreams are verities. 
But oh ! alas for all earth's loftier lore, 
And spiritual sympathy of worlds ! — 
There shall be no more magic nor cabala, 
Nor Rosicrucian nor Alchymic lore, 
Nor fairy fantasies ; no more hobgoblins. 
Nor ghosts, nor imps, nor demons. Conjurors. 
Enchanters, witches, wizards, shall all die 
Hopeless and heirless ; their divining arts 
Supernal or infernal — dead with them. 
And so 't will doubtlsss be with other things 
In time ; therefore I will commit my brain 
To none of them. 

Festus. Perchance 'twere wiser not. 

Man's heart hath not half uttered itself yet, 
And much remains to do as well as say. 
The heart is some time ere it finds its focus. 
And when it does, with the whole light of nature 
Strained through it to a hair 's breadth, it but burns 
The things beneath it, which it lights to death. 
Well, farewell, Mr. Student. May you never 
Regret those hours which make the mind, if they 
Unmake the body ; for the sooner we 
Are fit to be all mind, the better. Blest 
Is he whose heart is the home of the great dead, 



FESTUS. 139 

And their great tlionglits. Who can mistake great 

thoughts ? 
They seize upon the mind — arrest, and search, 
And shake it — bow the tall soul as by wind — 
Rush over it like rivers over reeds, 
Which quaver in the current — turn us cold. 
And pale, and voiceless ; leaving in the brain 
A rocking and a ringing, — glorious. 
But momentary, madness might it last. 
And close the soul with Heaven as with a seal ! 
Ifi lieu of all these things whose loss thou mournest, 
If earnestly or not I know not, use 
The great and good and true which ever live. 
And are all common to pure eyes and true. 
Upon the summit of each mountain-thought 
Worship thou God ; for Deity is seen 
From every elevation of the soul. 
Study the Light ; attempt the high ; seek out 
The soul's bright path ; and since the soul is fire 
Of heat intelligential, turn it aye 
To the all-Fatherly source of light and life ; 
Piety purifies the soul to see 
Perpetual apparitions of all grace 
And power, which to the sight of those who dwell 
In ignorant sin are never known. Obey 
Thy genius, for a minister it is 
Unto the throne of Fate. Draw to thy soul, 
And centralise the rays which are around 
Of the Divinity. Keep thy spirit pure 
From worldly taint by the repellant strength 
Of virtue. Think on noble thoughts and deeds, 
Ever. Count o'er the rosary of truth ; 
And practice precepts which are proven wise. 
It matters not then what thou fearest. Walk 
Boldly and wisely in that light thou hast ; — 



140 FESTUS. 

There is a hand above will help thee on. 

I am an omnist, and believe in all 

Religions, — fragments of one golden world 

Yet to be relit in its place in Heaven — 

For all are relatively true and false, 

As evidence and earnest of the heart 

To those who practice, or have faith in them. 

The absolutely true religion is 

In Heaven only, yea in Deity. 

But foremost of all studies, let me not 

Forget to bid thee learn Christ's faith by heart. 

Study its truths, and practice its behests : 

They are the purest, sweetest, peacefuUest,' 

Of all immortal reasons or records : 

They will be with thee when all else have gone. 

Mind, body, passion, all wear out — not faith. 

Nor truth. Keep thy heart cool, or rule its heat 

To fixed ends : waste it not upon itself. 

Not all the agony of all the damned, 

Fused in one pang, vies with that earthquake throb 

Wliich wakens it from v/aste to let us see 

The world rolled by for aye ; and that we must 

"Wait an eternity for our next chance, 

"Whether it be in Heaven or elsewhere. 

Student. Sir, 

I will remember this most grave advice, 
And think of you with all respect. 

Festus. "Well, mind ! 

The worst men often give the best advice. 
Our deeds are sometimes better than our thoughts. 
Commend me, friend, to every one you meet : 
I am an universal favourite. 
Old men admire me deeply for my beauty, 
Young women for my genius and strict virtue, 
And young men for my modesty and wisdom. 



FESTUS. 141 

All turu to me, whenever I speak, full-faced, 
As planets to tlie sun, or owls to a rushlight. 
Farewell ! 

Student. I hope to meet again. 

Festus. And I. — 

Yonder's a woman singing. Let us hear her. 

Singer. In the gray church tower 

Were the clear bells ringing 
When a maiden sat in her lonely bower 
^ Sadly and lowly singing, 

And thus she sang, that maiden fair. 

Of the soft blue eyes and the long light hair : 

This hand hath oft been held by one 

"WHio now is far away ; 
And here I sit and sigh alone 

Through all the weary day. 
Oh, when will he I love return ! 
Oh, when shall I forget to mourn ! 

Along the dark and dizzy path 

Ambition madly runs, 
'Tis there they say his course he hath, 

And therefore love he shuns. 
Oh, fame and honour bind his brow. 
For so he would be with me now ! 

In the gray church tower 

Were the clear bells ringing. 
When a bounding step in that lonely bower 

Broke on the maiden singing ; 
She turned, she saw ; oh, happy fair ! 
For her love who loved her so well was there I 

Lucifer. And we might trust these youths and 
maidens fair, 
The world was made for nothInf:r but love, love I 



142 FESTUS. 

Now I think it was made but to be burned. 

Festus. And if I love not now, while woman is 
All bosom to the young, when shall I love ? 
Who ever paused on passion's fiery wheel ? 
Or trembling by the side of her he loved 
Whose liofhtest touch brinfj^s all but madness, ever 
Stopped coldly short to reckon up his jDulse ? 
The car comes — and we lie — and let it come ; 
It crushes — kills — what then ! It is joy to die. 
Enough shall not fool me. I fling the foil 
Away. Let me but look on aught which casts 
The shadow of a pleasure, and here I bare 
A breast which would embrace a bride of fire. 
Pleasure — we part not ! No ! It were easier 
To wring God's lightnings from the grasp of God. 
I must be mad ; but so is all the world. 
Folly. It matters not. What is the world 
To me ? Nought. I am all things to myself. 
If my heart thundered, would the world rock ? 

Well — 
Then let the mad world fight its shadow do^vn ; 
There soon will be nor sun, nor world, nor shadow. 
And thou, my blood, my bright red running soul — 
Rejoice thou, like a river in thy rapids ! 
Rejoice — thou wilt never pale with age, nor thin ; 
But in thy full dark beauty, vein by vein, 
Fold by fold, serpent-lilvC, encircling me 
Like a stag, sunstruck, top thy bounds and die. 
Throb, bubble, sparkle, laugh and leap along ! 
Make merry while the holidays shall last. 
Heart ! I could tear thee out, thou fool ! thou fool ! 
And strip thee into shreds upon the wind : 
Wliat have I done that thou shouldst serve me thus ? 

Lucifer. Let us away. We have had enough of 
this. 



FESTUS. 143 

Festus. The night is glooming on us. It is the 
hour 
When lovers will speak lowly, for the sake 
Of being nigh each other ; and when love 
Shoots up the eye like morning on the east, 
Makino; amends for the lono; northern night 
They passed ere either knew the other loved. 
It is the hour of hearts, when all hearts feel 
As they could love to mad death, finding aught 
To give back fire ; for love, like nature, is [tliine, 
War — sweet war ! Arms ! To arms ! so they be 
Woman ! Old people may say what they please — 
The heart of age is hke an emptied wine-cup. 
Its life lies in a heel-tap — how can they judge ? 
'Twere a waste of time to ask how they wasted 
theirs. [smooth. 

But while the blood is bright, breath sweet, skin 
And Hmbs all made to minister delight — 
Ere yet we have shed our locks hke trees their leaves, 
And we stand staring bare into the air — 
He is a fool who is not for love and beauty. 
I speak unto the young, for I am of them, 
And alway shall be. What are years to me ? 
Traitors ! that vice-like fang the hand ye lick : 
Ye fall hke small birds beaten by a storm 
Against a dead wall, dead. I pity ye. 
Oh ! that such mean things should raise hope or fear ; 
Those Titans of the heart, that fight at Heaven 
And sleep by fits on fire ; whose slightest stir 's 
An earthquake. I am bound and blest to youth ! 
Oh ! give me to the young — the fair — the free — 
The brave, who would breast a rushing burning 

world 
"^Tiich came between them and their hearts' delight. 
None but the brave and beautiful can love. 



144 FESTUS. 

Oh, for the young heart like a fountain playinp; ! 

Flinging its bright fresh feelings up to the skies 

It loves and strives to reach — strives, loves in vain : 

It is of earth, and never meant for Heaven. 

Let us love both, and die. The sphinx-like heart, 

Consistent in its inconsistency. 

Loathes life the moment that life's riddle is read : 

The knot of our existence is untied, 

And we lie loose and useless. Life is had ; 

And then we sigh, and say, can this be all ? 

It is not what we thought — it is very well — 

But we want something more — there is but death. 

And when we have said, and seen, and done, and had, 

Enjoyed and suffered, all we have wished and feared — 

From fame to ruin, and from love to loathing — 

There can come but one more change — try it — 

death. 
Oh ! it is great to feel we care for nothing — 
That hope, nor love, nor fear, nor aught of earth 
Can check the royal lavishment of life ; 
But like a streamer strown upon the wind, 
We fling our souls to fate and to the future. 
And to die young is youth's divinest gift, — 
To pass from one world fresh into another. 
Ere change hath lost the charm of soft regret, 
And feel the immortal impulse from within 
Which makes the coming, life — cry, alway, on ! 
And follow it M'hile strong — is Heaven's last mercy. 
There is a fire-fly in the southern clime 
Which shineth only when upon the wing ; 
So is it with the mind ; when once we rest, 
We darken. On ! said God unto the soul 
As to the earth, for ever. On it goes, 
A rejoicing native of the infinite — 
As a bird of air — an orb of heaven. 



FESTUS. 145 

Scene — The centre, 
Festus and Lucifer. 

Lucifer. Behold us in the fire-crjpts of the 
world ! 
Through seas and buried mountains tomblike tracts, 
Fit to receive the skeleton of Death 
When he is dead — through earthquakes, and the 

bones 
Of earthquake-swallowed cities, have we wormed 
Down to the ever burning forge of fire, 
Whereon in awful and omnipotent ease 
Nature, the delegate of God, brings forth 
Her everlasting elements, and breathes 
Around that fluent heat of life which clothes 
Itself in lightnings, wandering through the air, 
And pierces to the last and loftiest pore 
Of Earth's snow-mantled mountains. In these vaults 
Are hid the archives of the universe ; 
And here, the ashes of all ages gone, 
Each finally inurned. These pillars stand. 
Earth's testimony to eternity. 

Festus. All that is solid now was fluid once ; 
Water, or air, or fire, or some one 
Permanent, permeating, element; 
As in this focal, world-evolving fire 
Like what I see around — the vacuous power 
Whereon the world is based, e'en as wherein 
It rolls, I must believe. 

Lucifer. The original 

Of all things is one thing. Creation is 
One whole. The differences a mortal sees 
Are diverse only to the finite mind. 

Festus. This marble-walled immensitv o'erroofed 

10 



146 FESTUS. 

With pendant mountains glittering, awes my soul. 
God's hand hath scooped the hollow of this world ; 
Yea, none but His could ; and I stand in it, 
Like a forgotten atom of the light, 
Some star hath lost upon its lightning flight. 

Lucifer. Here mayst thou lay thy hand on na- 
ture's heart. 
And feel its thousand yeared throbbings cease. 
High overhead, and deep beneath our feet, 
The sea's broad thunder booms, scarce heard ; around, 
The arches, like uplifted continents 
Of starry matter, burning inwardly, 
Stand ; and, hard by, earth's gleaming axle sleeps, 
All moving, all unmoved. 

Festus. Age here on age 

Lie heaped like withered leaves. And must it end ? 

Lucifer. God worketh slowly: and a thousand 
years 
He takes to lift His hand off. Layer on layer 
He made earth, fashioned it and hardened it 
Into the great, bright, useful thing it is ; 
Its seas, life-crowded, and soul-hallowed lands 
He girded with the girdle of the sun. 
That sets its bosom glowing like Love's own 
Breathless embrace, close-clinging as for life ; — 
Veined it with gold, and dusted it with gems. 
Lined it with fire, and round its heart-fire bowed 
Rock-ribs unbreakable ; until at last 
Earth took her shining station as a star, 
Li Heaven's dark hall, high up the crowd of worlds. 
All this and thus did God ; and yet it ends. 
The ball He rolled and rounded, melts away 
E'en now to its constituent atomies. 

Festus. It is enough. Though here were posited 
All secrets of existence, natural 



FESTUS. 147 

Or supernatural, dwell not here would I, 

Though 't were to drain profoundest fountains. No ! 

I love it not, the science nor the scene. 

I long to know again the fresh green earth, 

The breathing breeze, the sea and sacred stars. 

These recollections crowd upon my soul, 

As constellations on the evening skies, 

And will not be forgotten. Let us leave ! 

Lucifer. Aught that reminds the exile of his 
home 
Is surely pleasant. I, friend, am content. 

Festus. I cannot be content with less than Heaven. 
O Heaven, I love thee ever ! sole and whole, 
Living and comprehensive of all life ; 
Thee, agy world, thee, universal Heaven, 
And heavenly universe ! thee, sacred seat 
Of intellective Time, the throned stars 
And old oracular night ; — by night or day, 
To me thou canst not but be beautiful, 
Boundless, all-central, universal sphere ! 
"Wliether the sun all-light thee, or the moon. 
Embayed in clouds, mid starry islands round, ' 

"With mighty beauty inundate the air ; — 
Or when one star, like a great drop of light, 
From her full flowing; urn hano^s tremulous, — 
Yea, like a tear from her the eye of night, 
Let fall o'er nature's volume as she reads : — 
Or, when in radiant thousands, each star reigns 
In imparticipable royalty, 
Leaderless, uncontrasted with the light 
Wlierein their light is lost, the sons of fire, 
Arch element of the Heavens; — when storm and 

cloud 
Debar the mortal vision of the eye 
From wandering o'er thy threshold, — more and more 



148 FESTUS. 

I love tliee, thinking on tlie splendid calm 

"WTiieli bounds the deadly fever of these days — 

The higher, holier, spiritual Heaven. 

And when this world, within whose heartstrings nov 

I feel myself encoiled, shall be resolved, 

Thee I shall be permitted still, perchance, 

To love and live in endlessly. 

Lucifer. All here 

Thou seest hath holden fellowship with gods ; 
With eldest Time and primal matter, space, 
And stars, and air, and all-inherent fire. 
The w^atery deep and chaos, night, the all, 
And the interior immortality. 
And first-begotten Love. These rocks retain 
Their caverned footsteps printed in pure fire. 
Those were the times, the ancient youth of earth, 
The elemental vears, when earth and Heaven 
IMade one in holy bridals, — royal gods 
Their bright immortal issue : when men's minds 
Were vast as continents, and not as now 
Minute and indistinguishable plots. 
With here and there acres of untilled brains ; when 

lived 
The great original, broad-eyed, sunken race. 
Whose wisdom, like these sea-sustaining rocks, 
Hath formed the base of the world's fluctuous lore :— 
When too, by mountainous travail, human might 
Sought to possess the everlasting Heavens, 
And incommunicable, by the right 
Of self-acquirement and high kindred wdth 
Celestial virtues ; — when the mortal powers — 
Forecounsel, wasdom, and experience. 
Teachers of all arts, founders of all good. 
With Godhood strove, and gloriously failed — 
Li failure half successful ; as these scenes. 



FESTUS. 149 

Fire-fountains, and volcano-utterances, 
Earth-heavings, island vomitings, evince. 

Festus. The world hath made such comet-like 
advance 
Lately on science, we may almost hope. 
Before we die of sheer decay, to lera-n 
Somethuig about our infancy. But me 
This troubles not. Were all earth's mountain chains 
To utter fire at once, what a grand show 
Of pyrotechny for our neighbor moon ! 
L*et us ascend ; but not through the charred throat 
Of an extinct volcano. 

Lucifer. This way — down. 

So shalt thou thread the world at once. 

Festus. Haste, haste. 

Scene — A ruined Temple. 
Festus a7id Lucifer. 

Festus. Here will I worship solely. 

Lucifer. 'T is a fane 

Once sacred to the Sun. 

Festus. It matters not 

What false god here hath falsely been adored, 
Or what life-hating rites these walls have viewed : 
The truly holy soul, which hath received 
The unattainable, can hallow hell. 
Now to the only true and Triune God 
These walls shall echo praise, if never yet. 
Bring me a morsel of the fire without ; 
For I will make a sacred offering 
To God, as though the High Priest of the world. 
He lacks not consecration at best hands [these. 

Whom Thou hast hallowed. Lord, by choice; and 
The elements I offer, Thou hast made 



150 FESTUS. 

Holj, by making them. 

Lucifer. Lo ! here is fire. 

I will await thee in the air. 

Festus. Withdraw ! 

Thine, Lord ! are all the elements and worlds ; — 
The sun is Thy bright servant, and the moon 
Thy servant's servant ; — the round rushing earth, 
The lifeful air, the thousand winged winds, 
The Heaven-kinned fire, the continental clouds, 
The sea broad breasted, and the tranced lake. 
The rich arterial rivers, and the hills 
Which wave their woody tresses in the breeze, 
In grateful undulation, all are Thine ; — 
Thine are the snow-robed mountains circling earth 
As the white spirits God the Saviour's throne ; — 
Thine the bright secrets, central in all orbs, 
And rudimental mysteries of life. 
The sun-starred night, the ever-maiden mom. 
The all-prevailing day, consummate eve, 
Confess them Thine through the perpetual world : — 
All art hath wrought from earth, or science lured 
From truth, like flame out of the fire cloud, are 
Thine ; — Thine the glory, all belongs to Thee, 
Finite, indefinite and infinite. 
As mountains to a world, as worlds to Heaven. 
The high doomed city and the toilful town 
And early hamlet, — all that live or die. 
That flourish or decay, that change, or stand 
Before Thy face, unchanged, exist for Thee, 
Or are not at Thy bidding ; Thine, all souls ; 
Atom and world, the universe is Thine ! — 
Thou canst as easily turn Thy kindest eye 
From comprehending the bright Infinite, 
To this crushed temple, where the wild flower decks 
Its earthquake-rifted walls, and the birds build 



FESTUS. 151 

In corners of its columned capitals, — 

And to this crumbling heart I offer here, 

As trust Thine own Eternity. Behold ! 

Accept, I pray Thee, Lord ! this sacrifice ; 

These elemental offerings simple, pure, 

Which in the name of man I make to Thee, 

Formless, save prostrate soul and kneehng heart — 

In token of Thy perfect monarchy 

And all comprising mercy. These are they ! 

A flowery turf, a branch, a burning coal, 

A cup of water and an empty bowl ; 

This air-filled bowl is typic of the world 

Thou fiUest with Thy spirit, and the soul. 

Receptive of Thy life-conferring truth ; — 

This the symbolic element wherefrom 

We are to be reborn, wherein made pure ; 

Those whom Thou clioosest are to be redeemed 

Out of the mighty multitudes of men ; 

Yet all as of one nature be redeemed. 

This coal, torn flaming from the earth, proclaims 

Thy sin-consuming mercy as of earth ; 

And may our souls ever aspire to Thee, 

As these pale flames unto the stars ; this turf 

Is as the earthy nature and abode 

We would subject to Thee ; and lieth here. 

The representative of every star 

And world-extended matter ! Lord ! this branch, 

Which waveth high o'er all, oh, let it sign 

Thine own Eternal Son's humanity, 

Which was on earth, yet ever lives in Heaven, 

Redemptive of all Being. Golden Branch ! 

Wliich, in the eld-time, seer's and sybil's words. 

Full of dark central thought and mystic truth. 

Foretold should overspread the spirit world. 

And with its fruit heal every wound of Death, — 



152 FESTUS. 

Tree of eternal life, Thee all adore. 

Accept this prayer, Saviour! that if men 

Can nothing do but sin, Thou majst forgive 

The creature crime, and bring back all to Thee. 

Thou art the one who made the universe ; 

Yet didst Thou walk on earth ; Thou brakest bread 

And drankest wine with men, betokening so 

Thine own complete. Divine Humanity. 

May all obey Thy words and do Thy will ! 

We praise Thee God, our father ; whoso would 

Be saved, let him believe in Thee Triune. 

Thou doest all things rightly ; all are best, 

Sorrow, or joy, or power, or suffering. 

Providing, therefore, all things that must be 

And ought to be, as Thou dost and hast done. 

From the beginning even to the end, [praise, 

This heart let cease from prayer, these lips from 

Save that which life shall offer pauselessly. 

Now go I forth again, refreshed, consoled. 

Upon my time-enduring pilgrimage. 

Ho I Lucifer ! 

Lucifer. I wait thee. 

Festus. Whither next? 

Lucifer. As thou wilt, apposite or opposite. 
'T is light translateth night ; 't is inspiration 
Expounds experience ; 't is the west explains 
The east : 't is time unfolds Eternity, 

Scene — A 3Ietropoh's — Public Place. 

Festus and Lucifer. 

Festus. What can be done here ? 
Lucifer. Oh ! a thousand things. 

As well as elscAvhere. 

Festus. True ; it is a place 



FESTUS. 153 

"WTiere passion, occupation, or reflection, 
May find fit food or field ; but suits not me. 
My burden is the spirit, and my life 
Is lienceforth solely spiritual. 

Lucifer. Well j — 

At the.occurrent season, too, it shall 
Be satisfied. It might be even now,. 
From things about us. But look, here comes a man 
Thou knowest well. 

Festus. I do. Stop friend ! of late 

Irhave not seen thee. Whither goest thou now ? 

Friend. I am upon my business, and in haste. 

Festus. Business ! I thought thou wast a simple 

Friend. Mayhap I am. [schemer. 

Festus. There is a visionary 

Business, as well as visionary faith. 

Friend. I have been, all life, living in a mine, 
Lancing the world for gold. I have not yet 
Fingered the right vein. Oh ! I often wish 
The time would come again, which science prates of, 
When earth's bright veins ran ruddy, virgin gold. 

Festus. When the world's gold melts, all the 
poorer metals, 
All things less pure, less precious, all beside. 
Will vanish ; nought be left but gems and gold. 
If all were rich, gold would be penniless. 

Lucifer. I have a secret I would fain impart 
To one who would make right use of it. JSTow, mark ! 
Chemists say there are fifty elements. 
And more ; — wouldst know a ready recipe 
For riches ? — 

Friend. That indeed I would good sir. 

Lucifer. Get then these fifty earths, or ele- 
ments. 
Or what not. Mix them up together. Put 



154 FESTUS. 

All to the question. Tease tliem well with fire, 

Vapour and trituration — every way ; 

Add the right quantity of lunar rays ; 

Boil them, and let them cool, and watch what comes. 

Friend. Thrice greatest Hermes ! but it must 
be ; yes ! 
I '11 go and get them ; good day, — instantly. [ Goes* 

Lucifer. He '11 be astonished, probably. 

Festus. He will, 

In any issue of the experiment. 
Perhaps the nostrum may explode and blow him 
Body and soul to atoms and to — 

Lucifer. Nonsense ! 

Festus. There needs no satire on men's rage for 
gold; 
Their nature is the best one, and excuse. 
And now what next ? 

Lucifer. Why let us take our ease 

Beside this feathery fountain. It is cool 
And pleasant, and the people passing by, 
Fit subjects for two moralists like us. 
Here we can speculate on policy, 
On social manners, fashions, and the news. 
Now the political aspect of the world, 
At present, is most cheerful. To begin. 
Like charity, at home. Out of all wrongs 
The most atrocious, the most righteous ends 
Are happiest wrought. 

Festus. It ofttimes chances so. 

Lucifer. Take of the blood of martyrs, tears of 
slaves, 
The groans of prisoned patriots, and the sweat 
Wrung from the bones of Famine, like parts. Add 
Vapour of orphan's sigh, and wail of all 
Whom war hath spoiled, or law first fanged, ihen 
gorged ; — 



FESTUS. 155 

The stifled breath of man's free natural tlioug-ht, — 

The tyrant's lies ; the curses of the proud ; 

The usurpations of the lawful heir, 

The treasonous rebellions of the wise, 

The poor man's patient prayers ; and let all these 

Simmer, some centuries, o'er the slow red fire 

Of human wrath ; and there results, at last, 

A glorious constitution, and a grand 

Totality of nothings ; — as we see. — 

(Soldiers pass ; music, &c.J 
Man is a military animal, 
Glories in gunpowder, and loves parade ; 
Prefers them to aU things. 

Festus. Of recipes. 

Enough ! Life 's but a sword's length, at the best. 

Lucifer. War, war, still war ! from age to age, 
old Time 
Hath washed his hands in the heart's blood of 
Earth. [pride ; 

Festus. Yet fields of death ! ye are earth's purest 
For what is life to freedom ? War must be 
AVhile men are what they are ; while they have bad 
Passions to be roused up ; while ruled by men ; 
While all the powers and treasures of a land 
Are at the beck of the ambitious crowd ; 
While injuries can be inflicted, or 
Insults be offered ; yea, while rights are worth 
Maintaining, freedom keeping, or life having, 
So long the sword shall shine ; so long shall war 
Continue, and the need for war remain. 

Lucifer. And yet all war shall cease. 

Festus. It must and shall. 

Some new^s seems stirring ; what I know not yet. 

Lucifer. Nor I. I heard that one of Saturn's 
moons 



156 FESTUS. 

Had flown upon his face and blinded him. 

'T was also said, in circles I frequent 

At times, his outer ring was falling off. 

If I should find, I '11 keep it. It might fit 

A little finger such as mine, I think. 

Poor Saturn ! much I doubt he is breaking up. 

But for these news, I know not what they be. 

Some one perhaps has lit on a new vein 

Of stars in Heaven : or cracked one with his teeth, 

To look inside it, or made out at last 

The circulation of the light ; or what 

Think'st thou ? 

Festus. I know not. Ask ! 

Lucifer. Sir, what 's the news ? 

Passer-by. The news are good news, being none 
at all. 

Lucifer. Your goodness, Sir, I deem of like extent. 
We heard the great Bear was confined of twins. 

Stranger. 'T is not unlikely stars do propagate. 

Festus. And so much for civility and news. 
This city is one of the world's social poles, 
Hound which events revolve : here, dial-like. 
Time makes no movement but is registered. 

Lucifer. You gaudy equij^age ! hast ever seen 
A drowning dragon-fly floating down a brook, 
Topping the sunny ripples as they rise, 
Till in some ambushed eddy it is sucked down 
By something underneath. Thus with the rich ; — 
Their gilding makes their death conspicuous. 

Festus. Some men are nobly rich, some nobly 
poor. 
Some the reverse. Rank makes no difference. 

Lucifer. The poor may die in swarms unheeded. 
They 
But swell the mass of columned ciphers. Oh, 



FESTUS. 157 

Ye poor, ye wretched, ye bowed down by woe ! 
Thank God for something, though it were but this, 
He fire, ye ashes ! 

Festus. Thou art surely mad. 

Lucifer. I meant to moralize. I cannot see 
A crowd, and not think on the fate of man — 
Clinging to error as a dormant bat 
To a dead bough. Well, 't is his own affair. 

Festus. All homilies on the sorts and lot of men 
Are vain and wearisome. I want to know 
ISo more of human nature. As it is, 
I honour it and hate it. Let that do. 

Lucifer. Here is a statue to some mighty man 
Who beat his name on the drum of the world's ear 
Till it was stupified, and, I suppose, 
^N'ot knowing what it was about, reared, up 
This marble mockery of mortality. 
Which shall outlive the inemory of the man 
And all like him who water earth with blood, 
And sow with bones, or any good he did, 
As eagles outlive gnats. But never mind ! 
Why carp at insect sins, or crumb-like crimes ? 
The world, the great imposture, still succeeds ; 
Still, in Titanic immortality. 
Writhes 'neath the burning mountain of its sins, [one 

Festus. There 's an old adage about sin and some 
The world is not exactly what I thought it, 
But pretty nearly so ; and after all, 
'T is not so bad as good men make it out, 
Nor such a hopeless wretch. 

Lucifer. For all the world 

Not I would slander it. Dear world, thou art 
Of all things under Heaven by me most loved, 
The most consistent, the least fallible. 
Believe me ever thine affectionate 



158 FESTUS. 

Lucifer. P. S. Sweet, remember me ! 

Festus. Wilt go to the Cathedral ? 

Lucifer. Xo, indeed ; 

I have just confessed. 

Festus. Well, to the concert, then ? [years 

Lucifer. Some fifteen hundred thousand million 
Have passed since last I heard a chorus. 

Festus. Good ! 

Lucifer. In sooth, I cannot calculate the time. 
There are no eras in Eternity, 
No ages. Time is as the body, and 
Eternity the spirit of existence. 

Festus. That would I learn and prove. 

Lucifer. The finite soul 

Can never learn the Infinite, nor be 
Informed by it, unaided. 

Festus. Be it so. 

What shall we do ? 

Lucifer. I put myself in your hands. 

Festus. Wilt go on 'Change? 

Lucifer. I rarely speculate. 

Steady receipts are mostly to my taste. 
Besides, I spurn the system. Take my arm. 

Festus. But something must be done to pass the 
time. 

Lucifer. True ; let us pass, then, all time. 

Festus. I shall be 

Most happy ; only shew me how. 

Lucifer. Why, thus. 

I have the power to make thy spirit free 
Of its poor frame of flesh, yet not by death, — 
And reunite them afterwards ! Wilt thou 
Entrust thyself to me ? 

Festus. In God I trust, 

And in His word of safety. Have thy will. 



FESTUS. 159 

Where shall it be effected ? 

Lucifer. Here and now. 

Recline thou calmly on yon marble slab, 
As though asleep. The world will miss thee not ; 
Its complement is perfect. I will mind 
That no impertinent meddler troubles there 
Thy tranced frame. The brain shall cease its Hfe- 
Engrossing business, and the living blood. 
The wine of life which maketh drunk the soul, 
Sleep in the sacred vessels of the heart. 
Three steps the sun hath taken from his throne, 
Already, downwards, and ere he hath gone. 
Who calmeth tempests with his mighty light, 
We will return ; and till then the bright rain 
Of yonder fountain fails not. 

Festus. Thus be it ! 

Come ! we are wasting moments here that now 
Belong, of right, to immortality, 
And to another world. 

Lucifer. Prepare ! — 

Festus. And thou ? 

Lucifer. I vanish altogether. 

Festus. Excellent ! 

Lucifer. Body and spirit part ! — 

Scene — Air. 
Lucifer and Festus. 

Festus. Where, where am I ? 

Lucifer. We are in space and time, just as we were 
Some half a second since ; where wouldst thou be ? 

Festus. I would be in Eternity and Heaven ; 
The spirit and the blessed spirit, of 
Existence. 

Lucifer. And thou shalt be, and shalt pass 



160 FESTT7S. 

All secondary nature ; all the rules 

And the results of time : upon thy spirit 

These things shall act no more ; their hands shall be 

Withered upon thee, as the ray of life 

Returns to that it came from : they shall cease 

In thee, like lightning in the deadening sea. 

But not now ; we have worlds to go through, first. 

When spirit hath deposited its earth, 

And brightly, freely flows, self-purified 

In its own action, acted on by God, 

It holds the starry transcript of the skies 

Booklike within its bosom, evermore. 

But thine even now, exhausted, not exhaled, 

Bears the design of earthly discontent, 

Not sacred satisfaction. Unto him 

Whose soul is saved, all things are clear as stars, 

And, to the chosen, safety : — to none else. 

Nor cold insurgent heart, nor menial mind 

Can compass this : it is the way of God : 

The starry path of Heaven which none can tread 

But spirits high as Heaven, which He hath raised ; 

Who were of Him before all worlds, and are 

Beloved and saved for ever while they live. 

Thou of the world art yet, with motives, means, 

And ends as others. 

Festus. I will no more of it. 

Lucifer. Oh, dream it not ! Thou knowest not 
the depth 
Of nature's dark abyss, thyself, nor God. 
Light over strong and darkness over long 
Blind equally the eye. Thou mayst yet rise 
And fall as often as the sea. 

Festus. How comes it, 

Being a spirit, that I see not all 
As spirit should ? 



FESTUS. 161 

Lucifer. Thou lackest life and deatli. 

The life of Heaven and the death of earth. 
Then wouldst thou see in harmony with God, 
Creation's strife. 

Festus. Death alters not the spirit ! [stood. 

Lucifer. Death must be undergone ere under- 
One world is as another. Rest we here ! — 

Scene — Another and a hetter World. 

, Festus and Lucifer. 

Festus. What a sweet world ! Which is this^ 
Lucifer ? 

Lucifer. This is the star of evening and of beauty. 

Festus. Otherwise Venus. I will stay here. 

Lucifer. Nay : 

It is but a visit. 

Festus. Let us look about us. 

It is Heaven, it must be ; aught so beautiful 
Must, I am sure, have feeling. Cannot worlds live ? 
Least tilings have life. Why not the greatest, too ? 
An atom is a world, a world an atom 
Seen relatively : Death an act of Life. [thing 

Lucifer. This is a world where every loveliest 
Lasts longest ; where decay lifts never head 
Above the grossest fonns, and matter here 
Is all transparent substance ; the flower fades not, 
The beautiful die never, here : Death lies 
A dreaming — he has nought to do — the babe 
Plays with his darts. Nought dies but what should 
die. [Hen 

Here are no earthquakes, storms, nor plagues ; no 
At heart ; no floating flood on high. The soil 
Is ever fresh and fragrant as a rose — 
The skies, like one wide rainbow, stand on gold — 

11 



162 FESTUS. 

The clouds are light as rose leaves — and the dew, 
'Tis of the tears which stars weep, sweet with joy — 
The air is softer than a loved one's sigh — 
The ground is glowing with all priceless ore, 
And glistening with gems like a bride's bosom — 
The trees have silver stems and emerald leaves — 
The fountains bubble nectar — and the hills 
Are half alive with light. Yet it is not Heaven. 

Festus. Oh, how this world should pity man's ! 
I love 
To walk earth's woods when the storm bends his bow, 
And volleys all his arrows off at once ; 
And when the dead brown branch comes crashing close 
To my feet, to tread it down, because I feel 
Decay my foe : and not to triumph's worse 
Than not to win. It is wrong to think on earth ; 
But terror hath a beauty even as mildness ; 
And I have felt more pleasure far on earth ; 
When, like a lion or a day of battle. 
The storm rose, roared, shook out his shaggy mane, 
And leaped abroad on the world, and lay down red, 
Licking himself to sleep as it got light ; 
And in the cataract-like tread of a crowd. 
And its irresistable rush, flooding the green 
As though it came to doom, than e'er I can 
Feel in this foery orb of shade and shine. 
I love earth ! 

LuciFEK. Thou art mad to dote on earth 
When with this sphere of beauty. 

Festus. It is the blush 

Of being ; surely, too, a maiden world, 
TJnmarred by thee. Touch it not, Lucifer ! 

Lucifer. It is too bright to tarnish. 

Festus. Didst thou fail ? 

Lucifer. I cannot fail. With me success is na- 
ture. 



FESTUS. 163 

I am the cause, means, consequence of ill. 

Thou canst not yet enjoy a sensuous world — 

Kefined though ne'er so little o'er thine own, 

And yet wouldst enter Heaven. Yallialla's halls. 

And sculls o'erbrimmed with mead, Elysian plains — 

Eden, where life was toilless, and gave man 

All things to live with, nothing to live for ; — 

The Moslem's bowers of love, and streams of wine, 

And palaces of purest adamant, 

Where dark-eyed houris, with their young white arms, 

Tlie ever virgin, woo and welcome ye, [Light, 

The Chaldee's orbs of gold, where dwells the primal 

"Were all too pure for thee ; yet shalt thou be 

Surely in Heaven, ere Death unlock the heart. 

I said that I would show thee marvels here ; 

For here dwell many angels — many souls 

Who have run pure through earth, or been made pure 

By their salvation since. It is a mart 

Where all the holy spirits of the world 

Perform sweet interchange, and purchase truth 

With truth, and love Avith love. Hither came He, 

The Son — the Savior of the universe ; 

Not in the stable-state He went to earth — 

A servant unto slaves ; but as a God, 

Carrying His kingdom with Him, and Plis Heaven. 

Festus. Lo, here are spirits ! and all seem to love 
Each other. 

Lucifer. He hath only half a heart 
TMio loves not all. 

Festus. Speak for me to some angel. 

See, here is one, a very soul of beauty : 
It is the muse. I know her by the lyre 
Hung on her arm, and eye like fount of fire. 

Muse. Mortal, approach ! I am tlie holy INIuse, 
Wliom all the great and bright of spirit choose — 



164 FESTUS. 

'T is I who breathe my soul into the lips 

Of those great lights whom death nor time eclipse : 

'T is I who wing the loving heart with song, 

And set its sighs to music on the tongue : 

Tt is I who watch, and, with sweet dreams, reward 

The starry slumbers of the youthful bard ; 

For I love every thing that is sweet and bright. 

And but this morn, with the first wink of light 

A sunbeam left the sun, and, as it sped, 

I followed, watched, and listened what it said : 

Wherefore, with all this brightness am I given 

From sun to earth ? Am I not fit for Heaven ? 

From God I came once ; and, though worlds have 

passed. 
Ages, and dooms, yet I am light to the last. 
"Whatever God hath once bent to His will 
Is sacred ; so the world 's to be loved still. 
What of this swift, this bright, but downward being, 
Too burning to be borne — too brief for seeing ? 
What is mine aim — mine end ? I would not die 
In dust, or water, or an idiot's eye : 
I would not cease in blood, nor end in fire, 
Nor light the loveless to their low desire : 
No ; let me perish on the poet's page. 
Where he kisses from his beauty's brow all age ; 
Spelling it fair for aye, and wrinkle scorning, 
As when first that brow brake on him like a morning. 
But yet I cannot quit this line I tread, 
Though it lead and leave me to the eyeless dead : 
It is mine errand : 't is for this I come, 
And live, and die, and go down to my doom. 
This is my fate — right and bright to speed on. 
God is His own God : fate and fall are one. 
Straight from the sun I go, like life from God, 
Wliich hits, now on a heaven, now on a clod. 



FESTUS. 165 

But, spite of all, the world's air warps our way, 

And crops the roses off the cheek of day ; 

As some false friend, who holds our full in trust, 

Oils our decline, and hands us to the dust. 

Where are the sunbeams gone of the young green 

earth ? [birth — 

Search dust and nii^rht : our death makes clear our 
It said — and saw earth ; and one moment more 
Fell brisjht beside a vine-shadowed cottaj^fe door : 
In it came — glanced upon a glowing page, 
Where, youth forestalling and foreshortening ago — 
"Weak with the work of thought, a boyish bard, 
Sate suing night and stars for his reward. 
The sunbeam swerved and grew, a breathing, dim. 
For the first time, as it lit and looked on him : 
His forehead faded — pale his lip and dry — 
Hollow his cheek — and fever fed his eye. 
Clouds lay about his brain, as on a hill. 
Quick with the thunder thought, and lightning will. 
His clenched hand shook from its more than midisjight 

clasp, 
Till his pen fluttered like a winged asp. 
Save that no deadly poison blacked its lips : 
'T was his to life-enlighten, not eclipse ; 
Nor would he shade one atom of another, 
To have a sun his slave, a god his brother. 
The young moon laid her down as one who dies, 
Knowing that death can be no sacrifice. 
For that the sun, her god, through nature's night 
Shall make her bosom to grow great with light. 
Still he sate, though his lamp sunk ; and he strained 
His eyes to work the nightness which remained. 
Vain pain ! he could not make the light he wanted. 
And soon thought's wizard ring gets disenchanted. 
When earth was dayed — ^^was morrowed — the first ray 



166 FESTUS. 

Perched on his pen, and diamonded its way ; — 

The sunray that I watched ; which, proud to mark 

The line it loved as deathless, there died dark — 

Died in the only path it would have trod, 

Were there as many ways as worlds to God, — 

There, in the eye of God again to burn, 

As all man's glory unto God's must turn. 

And so may sunbeams ever guide his pen, 

And God his heart, who lights the morn of men ; 

For this life is but Being's first faint ray ; 

And sun on sun, and heaven on heaven, make up 

God's day. 
And were there suns in day as stars in night, 
They would shew but like one ray from out His 

full-sphered light ; 
As but one momentary gleam would fly ; 
Or, as years, the arrows of eternity. [truths — 

Festus. Poets are all who love — who feel great 
And tell them ; and the truth of truths is love. 
There was a time — oh, I remember well ! 
When, like a sea-shell with its seaborn strain, 
My soul aye rang with music of the lyre ; 
And my heart shed its lore as leaves their dew — 
A honey dew, and throve on what it shed. 
All things I loved ; but song I loved in chief. 
Imagination is the air of mind ; 
Judgment its earth, and memory its main ; 
Passion its fire. I was at home in Heaven : 
Swiftlike I lived above : once touching earth, 
The meanest thing might master me : long wings 
But bafiled. Still and still I harped on song. 
Oh ! to create within the mind is bliss ; 
And, shaping forth the lofty thought, or lovely, 
"We seek not, need not Heaven : and when the 
thought — 



FESTUS. 167 

Cloudj and shapeless, first forms on the mind, 

Slow darkening into some gigantic make, 

How the heart shakes with pride and fear, as heaven 

Quakes under its own thunder : or as might, 

Of old, the mortal mother of a god, 

When fii-st she saw him lessening up the skies. 

And I began the toil divine of verse. 

Which like a burning-bush, doth guest a god. 

But this was only wing-flapping — not flight ; 

The pawing of the courser ere he win ; 

Till, by degrees, from wrestUng with my soul, 

I gathered strength to keep the fleet thoughts fast. 

And made them bless me. Yes, there was a time 

When tomes of ancient song held eye and heart — 

Were the sole lore I recked of: the great bards 

Of Greece, of Rome, and mine own master land, 

And they who in the holy book are deathless, — 

Men who have vulgarized subHmity, 

And bought up truth for the nations ; parted it. 

As soldiers lotted once the garb of God, — 

Men who have forged gods — uttered — made them 

pass : 
In whose words, to be read with many a heavmg 
Of the heart, is a power, like wind in rain — 
Sons of the sons of God, who, in olden days. 
Did leave their passionless Heaven for earth and 

woman. 
Brought an immortal to a mortal breast ; 
And, like a rainbow clasping the sweet earth. 
And melting in the covenant of love. 
Loft here a bright precipitate of soul, 
Which lives for ever through the hues of men, 
Flashing, by fits, Hke fire from an enemy's front — 
'V\^iose thoughts, like bars of sunshine in shut rooms, 
Mid gloom, all glory, win the world to light — 



168 FESTUS. 

Wlio make their very follies like their souls ; 

And, like the young moon with a ragged edge, 

Still, in their imperfection, beautiful — 

Whose weaknesses are lovely as their strengths, 

Like the white nebulous matter between stars, 

Which, if not light, at least is likest light, — 

Men whom we build our love round like an arch 

Of triumph, as they pass us on their way 

To glory and to immortality ; 

Men whose great thoughts possess us like a passion 

Through every limb and the whole heart; whose 

words 
Haunt us as eagles haunt the mountain air ; 
Thousrhts which command all coming; times and 

minds, 
As from a tower a warden, — fix themselves 
Deep in the heart as meteor stones in earth, 
Dropped from some higher sphere; the words of 

gods. 
And fragments of the undeemed tongues of Heaven. 
Men who walk up to fame as to a friend 
Or their own house, which from the wrongful heir 
They have wrested, from the world's hard hand and 

gripe, — 
Men who, like Death, all bone, but all unarmed. 
Have ta'en the giant world by the throat, and thrown 

him ; [fame 

And made him swear to maintain their name and 
At peril of his life — who shed great thoughts 
As easily as an oak looseneth its golden leaves 
In a kindly largess to the soil it grew on — 
Whose rich dark ivy thoughts, sunned o'er with love. 
Flourish around the deathless stems of their names — 
Whose names are ever on the world's broad tongue, 
Like sound upon the falling of a force — 



FESTUS. 169 

"Whose words, if winged, are with angels' wings — 

Who play upon the heart as on a harp, 

And make our eyes bright as we speak of them — 

Whose hearts have a look southwards, and are open 

To the whole noon of nature, — these I have waked 

And wept o'er, night by night ; oft pondering thus : 

Homer is gone ; and where is Jove ? and where 

The rival cities seven ? His song outlives 

Time, tower, and god — all that then was save Heaven. 

Muse. Yea, but the poor perfections of thine earth 
Shall be as little as nothing to thee here. 

Festus. God must be happy, who aye malies ; 
and since 
Mind's first of things, who makes from mind is blest 
O'er men. Thus saith the bard to his work : — I am 
Thy god, and bid thee live as my God me : 
I live or die with thee, soul of my soul ! 
Thou earnest and went'st, sunlike, from morn to eve : 
And smiledst fire upon my heaving heart. 
Like the sun in the sea, till it arose 
And dashed about its house all might and mirth, 
Like ocean's tongue in Staffa's stormy cave. 
Thou art a weakly reed to lean upon ; 
But, like that reed the false one filched from Heaven, 
Full of immortal fire — immortal as 
The breath of God's lips — every breath a soul. 

Muse, Mortal ! the muse is with thee : leave her 
not. 

Festus. Once my ambition to another end 
Stirred, stretched itself, but slept again. I rose 
And dashed on earth the harp, mine other heart, 
Which, ringing, brake ; its discord ruinous 
Harmony still ; and coldly I rejoiced 
No other joy I had, wormlike, to feed 
Upon my ripe resolve. It might not be ; 



170 FESTUS. 

The more I strove against, tlie more I loved it. 

Lucifer. Come, let us walk along. So say fare- 

Festus. I will not. [well. 

Muse. No ; my greeting is forever. 

Lucifer. Well, well, come on ! 

Festus. Oh ! shew me that sweet soul 

Thou brought'st to me the first night that we met. 
She must be here, where all are good and fair : 
And thou didst promise me. 

Lucifer. Is that not she 

"Wallving alone, up-looking to thine earth ? 
For, lo ! it shineth through the mid-day air. 

Festus. It is ! it is ! 

Lucifer. Well, I will come again. 

[ Goes, 

Festus. Knowest thou me, mine own immortal 
love? 
How shall I call thee ? Say, what mayest thou be ! 

Angela. I am a spirit, Festus ; and I love 
Thy spirit, and shall love, when once like mine, 
More than we ever did or can even now. 
Pure spirits are of Heaven all heavenly. 
Yet marvel not to meet me in this guise. 
All radiant like a diamond as it is. 
We wander in what way we will through aU 
Or any of these worlds, and wheresoe'er 
We are, there Heaven is, here, and there too, God. 

Festus. Thou dost remember me. 

Angela. Ay, every thought 

And look of love which thou hast lent to me. 
Comes daily through my memory as stars 
Wear through the dark. 

Festus. And thou art happy, love ? 

Angela. Yes : I am happy when I can do good. 

Festus. To be good is to do good. Who dwell 
here? 



PESTUS. 171 

Are tliey all deatUess — liappy ? 

Angela. All are not : 

Some err, tliougli rarely — slightly. Spirits sin 
Only in thought ; and they are of a race 
Higher than thine — have fewer wants and less 
Temptations — many more joys — greater powers. 
They need no civil sway : each rules himself — 
Obeys himself: all live, too, as they choose. 
And they choose nought but good. They who have 

come 
Fi'om eai-th, or other orb, use the same powers, 
Passions, and purposes, they had e'er death ; 
Although enlarged and freed, to nobler ends. 
With better means. Here the hard warrior whets 
The sword of truth, and steels his soul against sin. 
The fierce and lawless wills which trooped it over 
His breast — the speared desires that overran 
The fairest fields of virtue, sleep and He 
Like a slam host 'neatli snow ; he dyes his hands 
Deep in the blood of evil passions. Mind ! 
There is no passion evil in itself; 
In Heaven we shall enjoy all to right ends. 
There sit the perfect women, perfect men ; — 
Minds which control themselves, hearts which indulge 
Designs of wondrous goodness, but so far 
Only, as soul extolled to bliss and power 
Most high, sees fit for each, divmely. Here, 
The statesman makes new laws for growing worlds, 
Through their forefated ages. Here, the sage 
Masters all mj^steries, more and more, from day 
To day, watching the thoughts of men and angels 
Through moral microscopes ; or hails afar. 
By some vast intellectual instrument. 
The mighty spirits, good or bad, which range 
The space of mind ; some spreading death and woe 



172 FESTUS. 

On far off worlds — some great with good and life. 
And here the poet, Uke that wall of fire 
In ancient song, surrounds the universe ; 
Lighting himself, where'er he soars or dives, 
With his own bright brain — this is the poet's heaven. 
Here he may realize each form or scene 
He e'er on earth imagined ; or bid dreams 
Stand fast, and faery palaces appear. 
Here he has Heaven to hear him ; to the which 
He sings, with manlike voice and song, the love 
"Which lent him his whole strength, as is the wont 
Of all great spirits and good throughout the world. 
Oh ! happiest of the happy is the bard ! 
Here, too, some pluck the branch of peace where- 
with 
To greet a suffering saint, and shew his flood 
Of Avoe hath sunken : this I love to do. 
My love, we shall be happy here. 

Festus. Shall I 

Ever come here ? 

Angela. Thou mayest. I will pray for thee, 
And watch thee. 

Festus. Thou wilt have, tlien, need to weep. 
This heart must run its orbit. Pardon thou 
Its many sad deflections. It will return 
To thee and to the primal goal of Heaven. 

Angela. Practice thy sjDirit to great thoughts 
and things, [ground, 

That thou mayst start, when here, from vantage 
We can foretell the future of ourselves, 
And fateful only to himself is each. 

Festus. I do not fear to die ; for, though I change 
The mode of being, I shall ever be. 
World after world will fall at my right hand ; 
The glorious future be the past despised ; 



FESTUS. 173 

All now that seemetli bright will soon seem dim, 
And darker grow, like earth, as we approach it ; 
While I still stand upon yon heaven which now 
Hand's over me. If au^rht can make me seek 
Other to be than that lost soul I fear me, 
It is, that thou lovest me. Heaven were not Heaven 
Without thee. 

LuciFEK. I am here now. Art thou ready ? 
Let us go. 

Angela. Well — farewell. It makes me grieve 
To bid a loved one back to yon false world — 
To give up even a mortal unto death. 
Thou wilt forget me soon, or seek to do. [air — 

Festus. When I forget that the stars shine in 
When I forget that beauty is in stars — 
When I forget that love with beauty is — 
Will I forget thee : till then, all things else. 
Thy love to me was perfect from the first. 
Even as the rainbow in its native skies : 
It did not grow : let meaner things mature. 

Angela. The rainbow dies in heaven, and not 
on earth ; 
But love can never die ; from world to world. 
Up the high wheel of heaven, it lives for aye. 
Remember that I wait thee, hoping, here. 
Life is the brief disunion of that nature 
Which hath been one and same in Heaven ere now, 
And shall be yet again, renewed by Death. 
Come to me when thou diest ! 

Festus. I will, I wilh 

Angela. Then, in each other's arms, we will 
waft through space, 
Spirit in spirit, one ! or we will dwell 
Among these immortal groves ; or watch new worlds, 
As, like the great thoughts of a Maker-mind, 



174 FESTDS. 

They are rounded out of chaos : and we will 
Be oft on earth with those we love, and help them ; 
For God hath made it lawful for good souls 
To make souls good ; and saints to help the saintly. 
That thou right soon mayst fold unto thy heart 
The blissful consciousness of separate 
Oneness with God, in Him in whom alone 
The saved are deathless, shall become, for thee, 
My earliest, earnest, and most constant prayer. 
Oh ! what is dear to creatures of the earth ? 
Life, love, light, liberty ! But dearer far 
Than all — and oh ! an universe more divine — 
The gift, which God endows his chosen with, 
Of His own uncreated glory, — His 
Before all worlds, all ages, and reserved 
Till after all for those He loves and saves. 
As when the eye first views some Andean chain 
Of shadowy rolling mountains, based on air, 
Height upon height, aspiring to the last, 
Even to Heaven, in sunny snow sheen, up 
Stretching like angel's pinions, nor can tell 
"Which be the loftiest nor the loveliest ; 
As when an army, wakening with the sun. 
Starts to its feet all hope, spear after spear 
And line on line reundulating light, 
Wliile night's dull watchfires reek them.selves away, 
So feels the spirit when it first receives 
The bright and mountainous mysteries of God, 
Containing Heaven, moving themselves towards us, 
In their free greatness, as by ships at sea 
€ome icebergs, pure and pointed as a star 
Afar off glittering, of invisible 
Depth, and dissolving in the light above. 
Festus. My prayer shall be that thy prayer be 
fumUed. 



FESTUS. 175 

I must to earth again. Farewell, sweet soul ! 

Angela. Farewell ! I love thee, and will oft be 
with thee. Hove 

Lucifer. I like earth more than this : I rather 
A splendid faihng than a petty good ; 
Even as the thunderbolt, whose course is downwards. 
Is nobler far than any fire which soars. 

Festus. I am determined to be good again — 
Again ? When was I otherwise than ill ? 
Does "not sin pour from my soul like dew from earth, 
JlUnd, vaj)0uring up before the face of God, 
Congregate there in clouds between Heaven and me ? 
What wonder that I lack delight of life ? 
For it is thus — wlien amid the world's delights, 
How warm so'er we feel a moment amono: them — 
We find ourselves, when the hot blast hath blown, 
Prostrate, and weak, and wretched, even as I am. 
I wish that I could leap from off this star, 
And dash my soul to atoms like a glass. [shalt 

Lucifer. I have done nothing for thee yet. Thou 
See Heaven, and Hell, and aU the sights of space, 
When'er thou choosest. 

Festus. Not then now. 

Lucifer. Up ! rise ! 

Festus. No ; I '11 be good : and will see none of 
them. 
Earth draws us like a loadstone. We are cominor. 



'O' 



Scene — A large Party and Entertainment, 

Festus, Ladies, and Others. 

Festus. My Helen ! let us rest awhile, 
For most I love thy calmer smile ; 
We '11 not be missed from this gay throng, 
They dance bo eagerly and long ; 



176 FESTUS. 

And were one half to go away, 

I '11 bet the rest would scarce perceive it. 

Helen. With thee I either go or stay, 
Prepared, the same, to like or leave it. 
Tiiese two, perhaps, Avill take our places. 
They seem to stand with longing faces. 

Festus. Then sit we, love, and sip with me 
And I will teach thyself to thee. 
Thy nature is so pure and fine, 
'T is most like wine ; 

Thy blood, which blushes through each vein, 
Rosy champagne ; 

And the fair skin which o'er it groAVS, 
Bridit as its snows. 

Thy wit, which thou dost work so well, 
Is like cool moselle ; 
Like madeira, bright and warm, 
Is thy smile's charm ; 
Claret's glory hath thine eye. 
Or mine must lie ; 
But nought can like thy lips possess 
Deliciousness ; 

And now that thou 'rt divinely merry, 
I '11 kiss and call thee sparkling sherry. [me 

Helen. I sometimes dream that thou wilt leave 
"Without thy love, even me, lonely ; 
And oft I think, though oft it grieve me, 
That I am not thy one love only : 
But I shall always love thee till 
This heart, like earth in death, stand still. 

Festus. I love thee, and will leave thee never, 
Until my soul leave life for ever. 
If earth can from her children run, 
And leave the seasons — leave the sun, — 
If yonder stars can leave the sky, 



FESTUS. 177 

Bright truants from their home in heaven — 

Immortals who deserve to die, 

Were death not too good to be given, — 

If Heaven can leave and live from God, 

And man tread off his cradle clod — 

If God can leave the world He sowed, 

Right in the heart of space to fade — 

Soul, earth, star, Heaven, man, world, and God 

May part — not I from thee, sweet maid. 

Ah ! see again my favourite dance, 

^ee the wavelike line advance ; 

And now in circles break, 

Like raindrops on a lake : 

Now it opens, now it closes. 

Like a wreath dropping into roses. 

Helen. It is a lovely scene, 
Fair as aught on earth ; 
And we feel, when it hath been, 
At heart a dearth ; 

As from the breaking up of some bright dream — 
The failing of a fountain's spray-topt stream. 

Will. Ladies — your leave — we '11 choose a 
To rule this fair and festive scene. [Queen 

Chakles. And it were best to choose by lot, 
So none can hold herself forgot. 

[ They draw lots : it falls to Helen. 

Festus. I knew, my love, how this would be ; 
I knew that Fate must favour thee. 

All. Lady fair ! we throne thee Queen ! 
Be thy sway as thou hast been — 
Light, and lovely, and serene. [crown 

Festus. Here — wear this wreath! No ruder 
Should deck that dazzling brow ; 
Or ask yon halo from the moon — 
'T would well beseem thee now. 
12 



178 FESTUS. 

I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
I crown thee Queen of me ! 
And oh ! but I am a happy land, 
And a loyal land to thee. 
I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
Thou art Queen in thine own right ! 
Feel ! my heart is as full as a town of joy : 
Look ! I 've crowded mine eyes with light. 
I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
Thou art Queen by right divine ! 
And thy love shall set neither night nor day 
O'er this subject heart of mine. 
I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
Thou art Queen by the right of the strong ! 
And thou didst but win where thou mightst have slain, 
Or have bounden in thraldom long. 
I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
Thou art my Queen for aye ! 
As the moon doth Queen the night, my love ; 
.As the night doth crown the day ; 
I crown thee, love ; I crown thee, love ; 
Queen of the brave and free ! 
For I 'm brave to all beauty but thine, my love ; 
And free to all beauty by thee. [reign, 

Helen. Here in this court of pleasure, blest to 
If not the loveliest, where all are fair, 
We still, one hour, our royalty retain, 
To out-queen all in kindness and in care. 
Love, beauty, honour, bravery, and wit — 
"Was ever Queen served by such noble slaves ? 
The peerage of the heart — for Heaven's court fit : 
We '11 dream no more that earth hath ills or graves. 
With mirth, and melody, and love we reign : 
Begin we, then, our sweet and pleasurous sway : 
And here, though light, so strong is beauty's chain, 



FESTUS. 179 

That none shall know how blindly they obey. 

We have but to lay on one light command — 

That all shall do the most what best they love ; 

And Pleasure hath her punishments at hand, 

For all who will not pleasure's rule approve. 

But no ! there's none of us can disobey, 

Since, by our one command, we free ye thus j 

And, as our powers must on your pleasures stay — 

Support — and you will reign along with us. 

Festus. Ha ! Lucifer ! How now ? 

Lucifer. I come in sooth to keep my vow. 

Festus. Thy vow ? 

LuciFEE. To revel in earth's pleasures. 
And tire down mirth in her own measures. 

Festus. Go thy ways : I shrink and tremble 
To think how deep thou canst dissemble ; 
For who would dream that in yon breast 
The heart of Hell was burning ? 
Or deem that strange and listless guest 
Some priceless spirit earning ? 
I hear, from every footstep, rise 
A trampled spirit's smothered cries. 

Charles. Fest, engage fair Marian's hand. 

Festus. Pass me ; she is free no less 
Than I, who by my queen will stand — 
May it please her loveliness ! 

Helen. Festus, we know the love, and see, 
Which was with Marian and thee. 

Festus. I will not dance to-night again, 
Though bid by all the Queens that reign. 

Helen. What, Festus ! treason and disloyalty 
Already to our gentle royalty ? 

Festus. No — I was wrong — but to forgive 
Be thy sublime prerogative ! 

Helen. Most amply, then, I pardon thee : 



180 FESTUS. 

In proof whereof, come, dance with me. [^ dance* 

Laurence. How sweetly Marian sweeps along; 
Her step is music, and her voice is song. 
Silver sandalled foot ! how blest 
To bear the breathing heaven above, 
Which on thee, Atlas-like, doth rest, 
And round thee move. 
Ah ! that sweet little foot ; I swear 
I could kneel down and kiss it there. 
I should not mind if she were Pope ; 
I would change my faith. 

Charles. "Works, too, we hope. 

Laurence. Ah ! smile on me again with that sweet 
smile, 
Wliich could from Heaven my soul to thee beguile ; 
As I mine eye would turn from awful skies 
To hail the child of sun and storm arise ; 
Or, from eve's holy azure, to the star 
Which beams and becks the spirit from afar ; 
For fair as yon star-wreath which high doth shine, 
And worthy but to deck a brow like thine ; 
Pure as the light from orbs which ne'er 
Hath blessed us yet in this far sphere ; 
As eyes of seraphs hft alone 
Through ages on the holy throue ; 
So bright, so fair so free from guile. 
And freshening to my heart thy smile ; 
Ay, passing all things here, and all above, 
To me, thy look of beauty, truth and love. 

Harry. Thy friend hath led his lady out. 

Festus. He looks most wickedly devout. 

Fanny. Wlien introduced, he said he knew her. 
And had been long devoted to her. 

Emma. Indeed — but he is too gallant. 
And serves me far more than I want. 



1 



FESTUS. 181 

He vows that he could worship me — 
"Why — look ! he is now upon his knee ! 

Lucifer, I quaff to thee this cup of wine, 
And would, though men had nought but brine — 
E'en the brine of their own tears, 
To cool those lying lips of theirs ; 
And were it all one molten pearl, 
I would drain it to thee, girl ; 
Ay, though each drop were worth of gold 
Too many pieces to be sold ; 
And though, for each I drank to thee, 
Fate add an age of misery : 
For thou canst conjure up my spirit 
To aught immortals may inherit ; 
To good or evil, woe or weal — 
To all that fiends or angels feel ; 
And wert thou to perdition given, 
I 'd join thee in the scorn of Heaven ! 

Emma. Oh fy ! to only think of such a fate ! 

Lucifer. Better than not to think on't till too late. 
They'd not believe me, Festus, if I told them, 
That Hell, and all its hosts, this hour behold them. 

Festus. Scarcely — that Devil here again ! 
But though my heart burst in the strain, 
I will be happy, might and main ! 
So wreathe my brow with flpwers. 
And pour me purple wine. 
And make the merry hours 
Dance, dance, with glee like thine. 
While thus enraptured, I and thou. 
Love crowns the heart, as flowers the brow. 
The rosy garland twine 
Around the noble bowl. 
Like laughing loves that shine 
Upon the generous soul ; 



182 FESTUS. 

Be mine, dear maid, the loves, and thou 

Shalt ever bosom them as now. 

Then plunge the blushing wreath 

Deep in the ruddy wine ; 

As the love of thee till death 

Is deep in heart of mine. 

While both are blooming on my brow, 

I cannot be more blest than now. [fresh : 

LuciFEK. Thou talk'st of hearts, in style to me, quite 
The human heart's about a pound of flesh. 

Festus. Forgive liim, love, and aught he says. 

Helen. What is that trickling down thy face? 

Festus. Oh, love, that is only wine 
From the wreath which thou didst twine ; 
And, casting in the bowl, I bound. 
For coolness' sake, my temples round. 

Helen. I thought 'twas a thorn which was tear- 
ing thy brow ; 
And if it were only a rose-thorn was tearing. 
Why, whether of gold or of roses, as now, 
A crown, if it hurt us, is hardly worth wearing. 

Lucy. From what fair maid hadst thou that flower? 
It came not from my wreath nor me. 

Charles. Love lives in thee as in a flower, 
And sure this must have dropped from thee — 
From thy lip, or from thy cheek : 
See, its sister blushes speak. 
Nay, never harm the harmless rose, 
Though given by a stranger maid : 
'Tis sad enough to feel that flower 
Feels it must fade. 
And trouble not the transient love. 
Though by another's side I sigh ; 
It is enough to feel the flame 
Flicker and die. 



FESTUS. 183 

And thou to ine art flame and flower 
Of rosier body, brighter breath : 
But softer, warmer than the truth — 
As sleep than death. [ing — 

Festus. The dead of night : earth seems but seem- 
The soul seems but a something dreaming. 
The bird is dreaming, in its nest, 
Of song, and sky, and loved one's breast ; 
The lap-dog dreams, as round he lies, 
In moonshine of his mistress' eyes : 
The steed is dreaming, in his stall, 
Of one long breathless leap and fall : 
The hawk hath dreamt him thrice of wings 
Wide as the skies he may not cleave ; 
But waking, feels them dipt, and clings 
Mad to the perch 'twere mad to leave : 
The child is dreaming of its toys — 
The murderer of calm home joys ; 
The weak are dreaming endless fears — 
The proud of how their pride appears : 
The poor enthusiast who dies. 
Of his life dreams the sacrifice — 
Sees, as enthusiast only can. 
The truth that made him more than man ; 
And hears once more, in visioned trance, 
That voice commanding to advance. 
Where wealth is gained — love, wisdom won, 
Or deeds of danger dared and done. 
The mother dreameth of her child — 
The maid of him who hath beguiled — 
The youth of her he loves too well ; 
The good of God — the ill of Hell, — 
Who live of death — of life who die — 
The dead of immortality. 
The earth is dreaming back her youth ; 



184 FESTUS. 

Hell never dreams, for woe is truth ; 
And Heaven is dreaming o'er her prime, 
Lono; ere the mornin"r stars of time ; 
And dream of Heaven alone can I, 
My lovely one, when thou art nigh. 

Helen. Let some one sing. Love, mirth and son^ 
The graces of this life of ours, 
Go ever hand in hand along, 
And ask alike each other's powers. 

Lucy sings. For every leaf the loveliest flower 

"Which Beauty sighs for from her bower — 

For every star a drop of dew — 

For every sun a sky of blue — 

For every heart a heart as true. 

For every tear by pity shed 

Upon a fellow-sufferer's head. 

Oh ! be a crown of glory given ; 

Such crowns as saints to gain have striven — 

Such crowns as seraphs wear in Heaven. 

For all who toil at honest fame, 
A proud, a pure, a deathless name ; 
For all who love, who loving bless, 
Be life one long, kind, close caress — 
Be life all love, all happiness. 

Lucifer. Tell me what's the chiefest pleasure 
In this world's high heaped measure ? 

AxL. Power — beauty — love — wealth — wine ! 

Lucifer. All different votes ! 

Fanny. Come, Frederic — thine ? 

What may thy joy-judgment be ?- 

Frederic. I scarce know how to answer thee ; 
Each, apart, too soon will tire ; 
All together slake desire. 
So ask not of me the one chief joy of earth, 



FESTUS. 185 

For that I'm unable to say ; 

But here is a wreath which will loose its chief worth, 

If ye pluck but one flower awaj. 

Then these are the joys that should never dispart — 

The joys which are dearest to me : [he^rt, 

As the song, and the dance, and the laugh of the 

Thou, girl, and the goblet be. 

Lucifer. Oh, excellent ! the truth is clear — 
The one opmion, too, I love to hear. 

Helen. Is this a Queen's fate — to be left alone ? 
I wish another had the throne. 
Festus ! why art thou not here. 
Beside thy liege and lady dear ? 

Festus. My thoughts are happier oft than I, 
For they are ever, love, with thee ; 
And thine, I know, as frequent fly 
O'er all that severs us, to me ; 
Like rays of stars that meet in space, 
And mingle in a bright embrace. 
Never load thy locks with flowers. 
For thy cheek hath a richer flush ; 
And than wine, or the sunset hour, 
Or the lipe yew-berry's blush. 
Never braid thy brow with lights, 
Like the sun, on its golden way 
To the neck and the locks of night, 
From the forehead fair of day. 
Never star thy hand with stones, 
For, for every dead light there, 
Is a living glory gone. 
Than the brilliant far more fair. 
Nay, nay ; wear thy buds, braids, gems ! 
Let the lovely never part ; 
Thou alone canst rival them, 
Or in nature, or in art. 



186 FESTUS. 

Be not sad ; — thou shalt not be : 

"Why wilt mourn, love, when with me ? 

One tear that in thine eye doth start 

Could wash all purpose from my heai*t, 

But that of loving thee ; 

If I could ever think to wrong 

A love so riverlike, deep, pure, and long. 

Helen. I cast mine eyes around, and feel 
There is a blessing wanting ; 
Too soon our hearts the truth reveal, 
That joy is disenchanting. 

Festus. I am a wizard, love ; and I 
A new enchantment will supply ; 
And the charm of thine own smile 
Shall thine own heart of grief beguile. 
Smile — I do command thee rise 
From the bright depths of those eyes ! 
By the bloom wherein thou dwellest. 
As in a rose-leaved nest ; 
By the pleasure which thou tellest. 
And the bosom which thou swellest, 
I bid thee rise from rest ; 
By the rapture which thou causest. 
And the bKss while e'er thou pausest. 
Obey my high behest ! 

Helen. Dread magician ! Cease thy spell ; 
It hath wrought both quick and well. 

Festus. Ah! thou hast dissolved the charm! 
Ah ! thou hast outstepped the ring ! 
"Who shall answer for the harm 
Beauty on herself will bring ? 
Come, I will conjure up again that smile — 
The scarce departed spirit. There it is ! 
Settling and hovermg round thy lips the while, 
Like some bright angel o'er the gates of bliss. 



FESTUS. 187 

And I could sit and set that rose-briglit smile, 

Until it seem to grow immortal there — 

A something abstract even of all beauty, 

As though 'twere in the eye or in the air. 

Ah ! never may a heavier shadow rest 

Than thine own ringlets' on that brow so fair ; 

Nor sob, nor sorrow, shake the perfect breast 

Which looks for love, as doth for death despair. 

And now the smile, the sigh, the blush, the tear — 

Lo ! all the elements of love are here. 

Oh, weep not — wither not the soul 

Made saturate with bliss ; 

I would not have one briny tear 

Embitter Beauty's kiss. 

Nay, weep not, fear not ! woe nor wrath 

Can touch a soul like thine. 

More than the lightning's blinding path 

May strike the stars divine. 

Sing, then, while thy lover sips, 

And hear the truth that wine discloses ; 

Music lives within thy lips 

Like a nightingale in roses. 

Helen siiigs. Oh ! love is like the rose, 
And a month it may not see. 
Ere it withers where it grows — 
Rosalie ! 

I loved thee from afar ; 
Oh ! my heart was lift to thee 
Like a glass up to a star — 
Rosalie ! 

Thine eye was glassed in mine 
As the moon is in the sea, 
And its shine was on the brine — 
Rosalie ! 



188 FESTUS. 

The rose hath lost its red, 

And the star is in the sea, 

And the briny tear is shed — 

Rosalie ! 
Festus. What the stars are to the night, mj lo\ e, 
Wliat its pearls are to the sea, — 
What the dew is to the day, my love, 
Thy beauty is to me. 

Helen. I am but here the under-queen of beauty 
For yonder hangs the likeness of the goddess ; 
And so to worship her is our first duty. [bodies 

The heavenly minds of old first taught the heavenly 
Were to be worshipped ; and the idolatry 
Holds to this hour ; though, Beauty ! but of thine. 
I am thy priestess, and will worship thee. 
With all this brave and lovely train of mine ; 
Lo ! we all kneel to thee before thy pictured shrine. 
Yes — there, thou goddess of the heart. 
Immortal beauty, there ! 
Thou glory of Jove's free-love skies. 
E'en like thyself too fair. 
Too bright, too sweet for mortal eyes, 
For eartlily hearts too strong ; 
Thy golden girdle lift's and drawest 
The heavens and earth along. 
Oh ! thou art as the cloudless moon, 
Undimmed and unarrayed ; 
No robe hast thou, no crown save yon — 
Goddess ! thy long locks' soft and sunbright braid. 
And there's thy son. Love — beauty's child — 
World-known for strangest powers — 
Boy-god thy place is blest o'er all ! 
Smil'st thou at thoughts of ours ? 
And there, by thy luxurious side. 
The Queen of Heaven and Jove 



FESTUS. 189 

Stands ; and the deep delirious draught 

Drinks, froni thy looks, of love. 

And lips, which oft have kissed away 

The thunders from his brow 

"VVho ruled, men say, the world of worlds, 

As God our God rules now. 

And thou ai't yet as great o'er this 

As erst o'er olden sky ; 

Of all Heaven's darkened deities 

The last live lidit on hio-h. 

God after God hath left thee lone, 

Wliich Hved on human breath ; 

When prayers were breathed to them no more, 

The false ones pined to death. 

But in the service of young heai'ts 

To loveUness and love ; 

Live thou shalt while yon wandering world 

Named unto thee shall move. 

No fabled dream art thou : all god, 

Our souls acknowledge thee ; 

For what would life from love be worth, 

Or love from beauty be ? 

Come, universal bejmty, then. 

Thou apple of God's eye. 

To and through which all things were made — 

Things deathless — things that die. 

Oh ! hghten — live before us there — 

Leap in yon lovely form. 

And give a soul. She comes! it breathes — 

So bright — so sweet — so warm. 

Our sacrifice is over : let us rise ! 

For we have worshipped acceptably here ; 

And let our glowing hearts and glimmering eyes, 

O'erstrained witli gazing on thy light too near, 

Prove that our worship, Goddess, was sincere I 



190 FESTUS. 

Festus. I read that we are answered. The soft 
air 
Doubles its sweetness ; and the fainting flowers, 
Down hanging on the walls in wreaths so fair, 
Bud forth afresh, as in their birth-day bowers, 
Dew-laden, as oppressed with love and shame. 
The rose-bud drops upon the lily's breast ; 
Brighter the wine, the lamps have softer flame, 
Thy kiss flows freer than the grape first pressed. 

Will. A dance, a dance ! 

Helen. Let us remain ! 

Festus. "We will not tempt your sport again. 

Helen. Behold where Marian sits alone, 
The dance all sweeping round. 
Like to some goddess hewn in stone. 
With blooming garlands bound. 

Festus. Tell me, Marian, what those eyes 
Can discover in the skies ? — 
Those eyes, that look, so bright, so sweet their hue, 
As they had gained from gazing on that view, 
The high and starry beauty of their blue. 

Marian. For earth my soul hath lost all love, 
But Heaven still loves and watches o'er me ; 
Why should I not, then, look above, 
And pass, and pity all before me ? 

Festus. Oh ! if yon worlds that sliine o'er this, 
Have more of joy — of passion less — 
I would not change earth's chequered bliss 
For thrice the joys those orbs possess ; 
Wliich seem so strange their nature is. 
Faint with excess of happiness. 

Marian. Thy heart with others hath its rest, 
And it shall wake with me ; 
And if within another breast 
Thy heart hath made itself a nest, 



FESTUS. 191 

Mine is no more for thee. 
' Heart-breaker, go ! I cannot clioose 
But love thee, and thy love refuse ; 
And if my brow grow lined while young, 
And youth fly cheated from my cheek, 
'T is, that there lies below my tongue 
A word I will not speak ; 
For I would rather die than deem 
Thou art not the glory thou didst seem. 
But if engirt by flood or fire, 
Who would live that could expire ? 
Who would not dream, and dreaming die. 
If to wake were misery ? 

Festus. Whose woes are like to my woes? 
What is madness ? 
The mind, exalted to a sense of ill. 
Soon sinks beyond it into utter sadness. 
And sees its grief before it like a hill. 
Oh ! I have suffered till my brain became 
Distinct with woe, as is the skeleton leaf 
Whose green hath fretted off its fibrous frame, 
And bare to our immortality of grief. 

Marian. Like the light line that laughter leaves 
One moment on a bright young brow ; 
So truth is lost ere love believes 
There can be aught save truth below. 

Festus. But as the eye aye brightlier beams 
For every fall the lid lets on it, 
So oft the fond heart happier dreams 
For the soft cheats love puts upon it. 

Marian. I never dreamed of wretchedness ; 
I thought to love meant but to bless. 

Festus. It once was bliss to me to watch 
Thy passing smile, and sit and catch 
The sweet contagion of thy breath — 



192 FESTUS. 

For love is catching — from such teeth ; 
Delicate little pearl-white wedges, 
All transparent at the edges. 

Marian. False flatterer, cease ! 

Festus. It is my fate 

To love, and make who love me hate. 

Marian. No ! *t is to sue — to gain — deceive ■ 
To tire of— to neglect — and leave : 
The desolation of the soul 
Is what I feel — 

A sense of lostness that leaves death 
But little to reveal ; 
For death is nothing but the thought 
Of something being again nought. 

Helen. Cease, lady, cease those aching sighs, 
"Which shake the tear-drops from thine eyes, 
As morning wind, with wing fresh wet, 
Shakes dew out of the violet. 
Forgive me, if the love once thine 
Hath changed itself unsought to me ; 
I did not tempt it from thy heart, 
I nothing knew of thee ; 
And soon, perchance, 't will be my part 
As thou now art, to be. 

]VIarian. I blame no heart, no love, no fate, 
And I have nothing to forgive ; 
I wish for nought, repent of nought. 
Dislike nought but to live. 

Helen. Nay, sing ; it will relieve thy heart. 

Marian. I cannot sing a mirthful strain ; 
And feel too much to act my part 
E'en of an ebbing vein. 

Festus. Our hearts are not in our own hands : 
"Why wilt thou make me say 
I cannot love as once I loved ? 



FESTUS. 193 

Marian. Hear ! — 't is for this I stay — 
To say we part — for ever part : 
But oil ! liow wide the line 
Between thy INIarian's bursting heart 
And that proud heart of thine. 
And thou wilt wander here and there, 
Ever the gay and free ; 
To other maids wilt fondly swear, 
As thou hast sworn to me ; 
And I — oh ! I shall but retire 
Iiito my grief alone ; 
And kindle there the hidden fire, 
That bums, that wastes unknown. 
And love and life shall find their tomb 
In that sepulchral flame : — 
Be happy — none shall know for whom — 
I will not dream thy name. 

Festus. As sings the swan with parting breath, 
So I to thee ; 

"While love is leaving — worse than life — 
Forewarningly. 

Speak not, nor think thou, any ill of me, 
If thou wouldst not die soon and wretchedly. 
I cannot waver on my path 
To shun fair lady's love or wrath. 
Nor condescend the world to undeceive 
Wliich doth delight in error and believe. 
Thus then farewell, dear lady, ere I go : 
And dearly have I earned my lightest woe. 

Oh ! if we e'er have loved, lady, 
We must forego it now ; 

Though sore the heart be moved, lady, 
Wlien bound to break its vow, 
I '11 alway think on thee. 

And thou sometimes — on whom, lady ? 
13 



19d FESTUS. 

And yet those thoughts must be 
Like flowers flung on the tomb, lady, 
Then tliink that I am blest, lady, 

Though aye for thee I sigh ; 
In peace and beauty rest, lady, 

Nor mourn and mourn as I. 

From one we love to part, lady, 

Is harder than to die ; 
I see it by thy heart, lady, 

I feel it by thine eye. 

Thy lightest look can tell 
Thy heaviest thought to me, lady ; 

Oh ! I have loved thee well. 

But well seems ill with thee, lady ; 
Though sore the heart be moved, lady. 

When bound to break its vow — 
Yet if we ever loved, lady, 

"We must forego it now. — 

Lucifer. Come, I must separate you two : 
Such wretchedness will never do. 
The little cloud of grief which just appears, 
If left to spread, will drown us all in tears. 

Emma. Oblige us, pray, then, with a song. 

Charles. I am sure he has a singing face. 

Will. At church I heard him loud and long. 

Lucifer. Pardon — but you are doubly wrong. 

Helen. Obey, I beg. Here — give him place. 

Lucifer. I have not sung for ages, mind ; 
So you must take me as you find. 
This is a song supposed of one — 
A fallen spirit — name unknown — 
Fettered upon his fiery throne — 
Calling on his once angel-love. 
Who still remaineth true above. [^SinffS, 



FESTUS. 195 

Tliou hast more music in thy voice 

Than to the spheres is given, 
And more temptations on thy hps 

Than lost the angels Heaven. 
Thou hast more brightness in thine eyes 

Than all the stars which burn, 
More dazzling art thou than the throne 

We fallen dared to spurn. 

Go search through Heaven — the sweetest smile 

That lightens there is thine ; 
And throuo;h Hell's burninii; darkness breaks 

No frown so fell as mine. 
One smile — 'twill light, one tear — 't will cool ; 

These will be more to me 
Than all the wealth of all the worlds, 

Or boundless power could be. 

Helen. Entreat him, pray, to sing again. 
Lucifer. Any thing any one desires, 
Festus. Your lovehness hath but to deign 
To will, and he '11 do all that will requires. 
Lucifer sings. Oh ! many a cloud 

Hath lift its vrinsr, 

And many a leaf 

Hath clad the spring ; 

But there shall be thrice 

The leaf and cloud, 

And thrice shall the world 

Have worn her shroud, 

Ere there 's any like thee, 

But where thou wilt be. 

Oh ! many a storm 
Hath drenched the sun, 
And many a stream 
To sea hath run ; 



196 • FESTUS. 

But tliere shall be tlirice 

The storm and stream, 

Ere there 's any like thee, 

But in angel's dream ; 

Or in look, or in love, 

But in Heaven above. 
Lucy-. What is love ? Oh ! I wonder so , 
Do tell me — who pretends to know ? 

Frank. Ask not of me, love, what is love ? 
Ask what is good of God above — 
Ask of the great sun what is hght — 
Ask ^vhat is darkness of the night — 
Ask sin of what may be forgiven — 
Ask what is happiness of Heaven — 
Ask what is folly of the crowd — 
Ask what is fashion of the shroud — 
Ask what is sweetness of thy kiss — 
Ask of thyself what beauty is ; 
And, if they each should answer, I ! 
Let me, too, join them with a sigh. 
Oh ! let me pray my life may prove, 
When thus, with thee, that I am love. 

Festus. I cannot love as I have loved. 
And yet I know not why ; 
It is the one great woe of life 
To feel all feeling die ; 
And one by one the heartstrings snap. 
As age comes on so chill ; 
And hope seems left that hope may cease, 
And all wdll soon be still. 
And the strong passions, like to storms, 
Soon rage themselves to rest. 
Or leave a desolated calm — 
A worn and wasted breast ; 
A heart that like the Geyser spring. 



FESTUS. 197 

Amidst its bosomed snows, 

May shrink, not rest — but with its blood 

Boils even in repose. 

And yet the thmgs one might have loved 

Remain as they have been, — 

Truth ever lovely, and one heart 

Still sacred and serene ; 

But lower, less, and grosser things 

Eclipse the world-like mind. 

And leave their cold dark shadow where 

Most to the light inclined. 

And then it ends as it began, 

The orbit of our race, 

Li pains and tears, and fears of life, 

And the new dwelling place. 

From life to death — from death to life 

We hurry round to God, 

And leave behind us nothing but 

The path that we have trod. 

Helen. In vain I try to lure thy heart 
From grief to mirth. 
It were as easy to ward off 
Night from the earth. 

Festus. Fill ! I '11 drink it till I die — 
Helen's lip and Helen's eye ! 
An eye which outsparkles 
The beads of the wine. 
With a hue which outdarkles 
The deeps where they shine. • 

Come ! with that lightly flushing brow, 
And darkly splendid eye. 
And white and wavy arms which now, 
Like snow-wreaths on the dark brown bough, 
So softly on me lie. 
Come ! let us love, while love we may, 



198 FESTUS. 

Ere youth's bright sauds be run ; 

The hour is nigh when every soul 

Which 'scapeth evil's dread control, 

N-or drains the furies' fiery bowl, 

Shall into Heaven for aye, 

And love its God alone. [hours 

Helen. Now let me leave my throne ; and if the 
Have measured every moment by a kiss, 
As I do think, since first ye gave these flowers, 
It was to teach us how to dial bliss: 
Farewell, dear crown, thy mistress will not wear, 
Save when she sitteth royally alone. 
Farewell, too, throne ! not quickly wilt thou bear 
A happier form, if fairer than mine own. 

Will. The ladies leave us ! 

Lucifer. Oh ! by all means let them 

But say, for Heaven itself, we '11 not forget them ; 
Say we will pledge them to the top of breath. 
As loud as thunder, and as deep as death. 

Festus apart. Where is thy grave, my love ? 
I want to weep.* 

High as thou art this earth above. 
My woe is deep ; 

And my heart is cold as is thy grave. 
Where I can neither soothe nor save. 
Whate'er I say, or do, or see, 
I think and feel alone to thee. 
Oh ! can it — can it be forgiven. 
That I forget thou art in Heaven ? 
Thou wilt forgive me this, and more : 
Love spends his all, and still hath store. 
Thou wilt forgive, if beauty's wile 
Should win, perforce, one glance from me , 
When they, whose art it is to smile, 
Can never smile my heart from thee ; 



FESTUS. 199 

And if with them I chance to be, 

And give mine ear up to their singing, 

It, wind-hke, only wakes the sea, 

In all its mad monotony. 

Of memory forth thy music ringing. 

Thou wilt forgive, if now and then 

I link with hands less loved than thine ; 

Whose gold-like touch makes kings of men, 

But wakes no will in blood of mine ; 

And if with them I toss the wine, 

And set my soul in love's ripe riot, 

It echoes not — this desert shrine. 

Where still thy love from Heaven doth shine, 

Moon-like, across some ruin's quiet. 

Thou wilt forgive me, if my feet 

Should move to music with the fair •, 

When, at each turn, I burn to meet 

Thy stream-like step and aery air ; 

And if, before some beauty there, 

Mine eye may forge one glance of gladness, 

It is but the ripple of despair. 

That shows the bed is all but bare. 

And nought scarce left but stony sadness. 

Thou wilt forgive, if e'er my heart 

Err from the orbit of its love ; 

When even the bliss-bright stars will start 

Earthwards, some lower sphere to prove. 

Thou wilt forgive, if soft white arms 

Embrace, by fits, this breast of mine ; 

When, while amid their pillowy charms, 

My heart can kiss no heart but thine ; 

And if these lips but rarely pine 

In the pale abstinence of sorrow, 

It is, that nightly I divine. 

As I this world-sick soul recline, 



200 FESTUS. 

I sliall be with thee ere the morrow. 

Thou wilt forgive, if once with thee 

I limned the outline of a Heaven ; 

But go and tell our God, from me. 

He must forgive what He hath given ; 

And, if we be by passion driven 

To love, and all its natural madness, 

Tell Him, that man by love hath thriven, 

And that by love he shall be shriven ; 

For God is love where love is gladness. 

Thou wilt forgive, if clay-bound mind 

Can scarce discover that thou art ; 

But w^ait ! I feel the outward wind 

Ejish fresh into my fluttering heart. 

Perchance thy spirit stays in yon mild star 

In peace, and flame-like purity, and prayer ; 

And, oh ! when mine shall fly from earth afar, 

I will pray God that it may join thine there : 

*T were doublmg Heaven, that Heaven with thee to 

share. 
And, while thou leadest music and her lyre, 
Like a sunbeam holden by its golden hair. 
May I, too, mingling with the immortal choir, [sire ? 
Love thee, and worship God ! w^hat more may soul de- 
Enough for me ! but, if there be 
More, it shall be left for thee. 

Walter. If any thing I love in chief. 
It is that flowery rich rehef 
That wine doth chase on mortal metal 
Before good wine begins to settle ; 
But all seem smilingly serenely dull, 
And melancholy as the moon at full. 
Quenched by their company they seem, 
Like sparks of fire in clouds of steam. 

Charles. They who mourn the lack of wit, 



FESTUS. 201 



Shew, at least, no more of it. 

Festus. I cannot bear to be alone, 
I hate to mix with men ; 
To me there 's torture in the tone 
Which bids me talk again. 
Like silly nestlings, warned in vain, 
My heart's young joys have fiown ; 
While singing to them, even then, 
They left me one by one. 
I envy every soul that dies 
TDut of this world of care : 
I envy e'en the lifeless skies. 
That they enshrine thee there. 
And would I were the bright blue air 
Which doth insphere thine eyes. 
That thou mightst meet me everywhere. 
And feel these faithful sighs. 
E'en as the bubble that is mixed 
Of air and wine right red. 
So my heart's love is shared betwixt 
The living and the dead. 
If on her breast I lay my head. 
My heart on thine is fixed : — 
Wilt thou I loose, as I have said. 
Or keep the soul thou seek'st ? 
From me thou canst not pass away 
While I have soul or sight ; — 
I see thee on my waking way. 
And in my dreams thee bright ; 
I see thee in the dead of night, 
And the full life of day ; 
I know thee by a sudden light ; 
It is thy soul, I say. 
If yonder stars be filled with forms 
Of breathing clay like ours. 



202 FESIUS. 

Perchance the space that spreads between 

Is for a spirit's powers ; 

And loving as we two have loved 

In spirit and in heart, 

Whether to space or star removed, 

God will not bid us part. [sessor 

Frank. As to this seat — its late and fair pos- 
Should, ere she went, have chosen her successor. 

Festus. In ri2;ht of her who sat thereon 
I think I might demand the throne ; 
I rather choose to let it be. 

All. George shall be King of the company ! 

George. My loving subjects ! I shall first promulge 
A few good rules by which to indulge ; 
They are good, according to my thinking. 
And shall be held the laws of drinking. 
First — each man shall do what he chooses, 
Provided that he ne'er refuses, 
But shall be sworn, by stand and stopper, 
To drink as much as I think proper. 

Will. Stay ! — all of you who think, with me, 
This law should pass. 
Will please to signify the same 
By emptying their glass. 

Walter. Filling again and emptying, and so on, 
At each law ■ — pari passu, as we go on. [mellow 

George. Secondly — no man shall be held as 
Who can distinguish blue from yellow. 
Thirdly — no man shall miss his turn nor toast. 
Nor yet give more than two at once, at most. 
Fourthly — if one at table should fall under. 
There let him lie — so much extinguished thunder. 
Fifthly — let all, in such case, who still sta}^. 
Like living lightnings, but the brighter play. 
Sixthly, and last but one — mind this, there shan 't 



FESTUS. 20 

Be auglit said that is not irrelevant. 
Seventhly — if any of these edicts should not 
Be kept, it shall be good to plead, I would not. 

Charles. Oh, let the roval law 
Be writ in rosy wine ! 
And read and kept 
At every feast 
"Where wit and mirth combine. 

Festus. How sweetly shine the steadfast stars. 
Each eyeing, sister-like, the earth ; 
And softly chiding scenes like this, 
Of senseless and profaning mirth. 

Lucifer. Thou art ever prating of the stars 
Like an old soldier of his scars ; 
Thou shouldst have been a starling, friend, 
And not an earthling : end ! 

Festus. And could I speak as many times 
Of each as there are stars in Heaven, 
I could not utter half the thouirhts — 
The sweet thoughts one to me hath given. 
The holy quiet of the skies 
May waken well the blush of shame, 
Wliene'er we think that thither lies 
The Heaven we heed not — ought not name. 
Oh, Heaven ! let down thy cloudy lids. 
And close thy thousand eyes ; 
For each, in burning glances, bids 
The wicked fool be wise. 

Lucifer. I can interpret w^ell the stars. 

Charles. Indeed ! they need interpreters. 

Lucifer. Then thus, in their eternal tongue 
And musical thunders, all have sung. 
To every ear which ear hath given. 
From birth to death, this note of Heaven. 
Deathlings I on earth drink, laugh, and love I 



204 FESTUS. 

Ye mayn't hereafter — under or above. 

Yes, this the tale they all have told, 

Since first they made old Chaos shrink — 

Since first they flocked creation's fold, 

And filled all air like flakes of gold 

"Which drop yon royal drink : 

For as the moon doth madmen rule, 

It is, that near and few they are ; 

And so in Heaven each single star 

Doth sway some reasonable fool, 

Wliether on earth or other sphere ; ^ 

For what 's above is what is here. 

Moons and madmen only change ; 

"What can truth or stars derange ? 

Edward. Brave stars, bright monitors of joy I 
Right well ye time your hours of warning ; 
For, sooth to say, the eve's employ ^ 

Doth wax less lovely towards the morning. 
So push the goblet gaily round — 
Drink deep of its wealth — drink on ! 
Our earthly joy too soon doth cloy, 
Our life is all but gone ; 
And, not enjoy yon glorious cup, 
And all the sweets which lie. 
Like pearls, within its purple well — 
"Who would not hate to die ? 

AViLL. And who, without the cheering glance 
Of woman's witching eye. 
Could stand against the storms of fate. 
Or cankering care defy ? 
It adds fresh brightness to the bowl ; 
Then why will men repine ? 
Content we '11 live with Heaven's best gifts — 
With woman, and with wine. 

Harry. Cups while they sparkle — 



I 



FESTUS. 205 

Maids while they sigh ; 

Bright eyes will darkle — 

Lips grow dry. 

Cheek while the dew-drops 

"Water its rose ; 

Life's fount hath few drops 

Dear as those. 

Arms while they tighten — 

Hearts as they heave : 

Love cannot brighten 

Life's dark eve. 

George. Oh ! the wine is like life ; 
And the sparkles that play 
By the lips of the bowl 
Are the loves of the day. 
Then kiss the bright bubble 
That breaks in its rise ; 
Oh ! love is a trouble, 
As light when it dies. [in crowds 

Charles. Let the young be glad ! though cares 
Leave scarce a break of blue, 
Yet hope gives wings to morning clouds ; 
And while their shade the sky enshrouds — 
By love and wine, which through them shine — 
They are turned to a golden hue. 
Then give us wine, for we ought to shine 
In the hour of dark and dew. 

Festus. "Well might the thoughtful race of old 
With ivy twine the head 

Of him they hailed their god of wine, ~ 
Thank GU)d ! the lie is dead ; 

For ivy climbs the crumbling hall 
To decorate decay ; 

And spreads its dark deceitful all 
To hide what wastes away. 



206 FESTUS. 

And wine will circle round the brain 
As ivy o'er the brow, 

Till what could once see far as stars 
Is dark as Death's eye now. 

Then dash the cup down ! 't is not worth 
A soul's great sacrifice : 

The wine will sink into the earth, 
The soul, the soul — must rise. 

Charles. A toast ! 

Frederic. Here 's beauty's fairest flower — 
The maiden of our own birth-land ! 

Harry. Pale face ! — oh for one happy hour 
To hold my splendid Spaniard's hand ! 

Festus. AYhy differ on which is the fairest form. 
When all are the same the heart to warm ? 
Although by different charms they strike, 
Their power is equal and alike. 
Ye bigots of beauty ! behold I stand forth, 
And drink to the lovely all over the earth. 
Come, fill to the girl by the Tagus' waves ! 
Wherever she lives there 's a land of slaves. 
And here 's to the Scot ! with her deep blue eye, 
Like the far off lochs 'neath her hill-propt sky. 
To her of the green Isle ! whoee tyrants deform 
The land, wdiere she beams like the bow in the storm. 
To the Norman ! so noble, and stately and tall ; 
Whc^se charms, ever changing, can please as they 

pall : 
Two bowls in a breath ! here 's to each and to all ! 
Come fill to the English ! whose eloquent brow 
Says, pleasure is passing, but coming, and now ; 
Oh ! her eyes o'er the wine are like stars o'er the sea, 
And her face is the face of all Heaven to me. 
And here 's to the Spaniard ! that warm blooming 
maid. 






i 



FESTUS. 207 

With her step superb, and her black locks' braid. 
To her of dear Paris ! with soul-spending glance, 
AYliose feet, as she 's sleejjing, look dreaming a 

. dance. 
To the maiden whose lip like a rose-leaf is curled. 
And her eye like the star-flag above it unfurled ! 
Here 's to beauty, young beauty, all over the world ! 

Will. Hurrah ! a glorious toast ; 
'T would warm a ghost. 

Festus. It moves not me. I cannot drink 
jThe toast I have given. 

There ! — Earth may pledge it, and she will — 
Herself and her beauty to Heaven. 
Drink to the dead — youth's feelings vain ! 
Drink to the heart — the battered wreck, 
Plurled from all passion's stormy main ! 
Though aye the billows o'er it break, 
The ruin rots, nor rides again. 

Charles. Friend of my heart ! away with care, 
And sing, and dance, and laugh : 
To love, and to the favourite fair, 
The wine-cup ever quaff. 
Oh, drink to the lovely ! whatever they are, 
Thou<xh fair as snow — as lio;ht ; 
For whether or falling, or fixed the star. 
They both are heavenly bright. 
Out upon Care ! he shall not stay 
Within a heart like thine ; 
There 's nought in Heaven or earth can weigh 
Down youth, and love, and wine. 
Then drink with the merry ! though we must die, 
Like iDeauty's tear we '11 fall ; 
We have lived in the light of a loved one's eye. 
And to live, love, and die is all. 

Festus. Vain is the world and all it boasts : 



208 FESTUS. 

How brief Love's pleasure's date ! 
We turn the bowl and all forget 
The bias of our fate. 

George. How goes the enemy ? 

Lucifer. What can he mean ? 

Festus. He asks the hour. 

Lucifer. Aha ! then I 

Advise, if Time thy foe hath been, 
Be quick ! shake hands, man, with Eternity. 

S c ene — A Church-yard. 
Festus and Lucifer beside a Grave. 

Festus. Let years crowd on, and age bow down 
My body to the earth which gave. 
As yon grey, worn out, crumbling stone 
Dips o'er the grave ! 
What, though for me no music thriU, 
Nor mirth delight, nor beauty move ; 
Though the heart stiffen and wax still, 
And make no love ; 
Still, deep and bright, like river gold, 
Imbedded here thy love shall lie — 
Sun-grains, that with the sands are rolled, 
Of memory. 

Shall that soul never burst the tomb, 
Draped in long robes of living light ? 
Or, worm-like, alway eat the gloom 
And dust of night ? 

Lucifer. Oh ! life in sporting on earth lies, 
Till death share up the rich green sod ; 
But if the spirit lives or dies, 
"WTiy try ye God ? 
AYhat should it never smile nor sigh 
From cheeks or lips but those beneath ? 



FESTUS. 209 

DolL love not weigh the world's vast lie ? 
Doth life not death ? 

Festus. I ask why man should suffer death ? 

Lucifer. Answer — - what right to hfe hath he ? 
God gives and takes away your breath : 
"What more have ye ? 
Breath is your life, and life your soul ; 
Ye have it warm from His kind hands : 
Then yield it back to the great Whole 
"When He demands. 

Why, deathling, wilt thou long for Heaven ? 
"Wliy seek a bright but blinding way ? 
Go, thank thy God that He hath given 
Night upon day : 

Go, thank thy God that thou hast Hved, 
And ask no more : 't is all He gave : 
'T is all there needs to be beHeved — 
God and the grave. 

Festus. For Thee, God, will I save my heart ; 
For Thee my nature's honour keep ; 
Then, soul and body, all or part — 
Rest, wake, or sleep ! 

Scene — Space, 

Festus and Lucifer. 

Festus. Listen ! I hear the harmonies of Heaven, 
From sphere to sphere and from the boundless round 
Re-echoing bliss to those serenest heiofhts 
"Wliere angels sit and strike their emulous harps, 
Wreathed round with flowers and diamonded with 

dew; 
Such dew as gemmed the everduring blooms 
Of Eden winterless, or as all night 
The tree of Life wept from its every leaf 
14 



210 FESTUS. 

Unwitliering. Aiid now methinks I hear 
The music of the murmur of the stream 
Which through the Bridal City of the Lord 
Floweth all life for ever ; and the breath 
Through the star-shading branches of that Tree 
Transplanted now to Heaven, but once on earth, 
Whose fruit is for all Beings — breathed of God. 
Oh ! breathe on me, inspiring spirit-breath ! 
Oh ! flow to me, ye heart-reviving waves ; , 
Freshen the faded soul that droops and dies. 

Lucifer. The universe is but the gate of Heaven. 
Lo ! from this highest orb, the crown of space 
And footstool unto Heaven, we can look up 
And gain a glimpse of glory unconceived. 

Festus. See how yon angels stretch their shining 
arms, 
Wave their star-haunting wings which gleam like glass, 
And locks that look like Morning's when she comes 
Triumphant in the East. Is this their joy 
O'er some world penitent ? 

Lucifer. Lo ! there it rides ; 

Blest to discharge on Heaven's all peaceful shores 
Its long accumulated load of life. 
Its deathless freight, — pilgrims of time and space. 
Yon guilty orb of hesitating light 
Slow looming, there, on its dark path, goes up 
At the forewritten hour, as do all worlds 
To God, to judgment ; and the earthquake groans 
Which rend its adamantine breast forebode 
Its agonizing doom. 

Festus. And doth not Heaven 

Grieve with the lost as gladden with the saved ? 

Lucifer. How many immortals mourn at the decree 
Of righteous wisdom, which alone to them 
Is bliss sufficient, being infinite ? 



FESTUS. 211 

Festus. If God liatli made all He alone it is 
Who hath to answer for all. 

Lucifer. He hath made. 

To secondary natures it seems just 
That justice should be realised, and there 
Is one example extant in the skies. 

Festus. But wherefore did it not repent in Time ? 

Lucifer. "WQiat unto us is Time, stands before God 
Eternity. Repentance is the grief 
For and effectual abstinence from sin, 
Which secondary natures without God 
Cannot attain to. 

Festus. Cloudy and clear by turns 

Thy words as Heaven. I know not what to think 
Nor how to act. 

Lucifer. It is natural ; and none 
Can aim or hit but as appointed them. 
There is but one great sinner. Human nature, 
Predict of every world and predicate : 
The wicked one, the Enemy of God, 
To be destroyed in the eternal fire 
Of His wrath, even thus in Deity — 
In whom as they begin must all things end. 
God loveth only His own spirit, so 
All that is base shall perish. From the first 
These things were fixed, and are and aye shall be 
Consummating, and are revealed as writ 
In words always fulfilled and burning truth 
Under the buried basements of the skies, 
Wliich after overthrown shall reappear. 
The unenlightened mind sees Deity 
In all things, but the spiritual soul 
All things in God. Now, ere we higher rise, 
Look downwards from this coping of the world ; 
And know that down to the profoundest depth 



212 FESTUS. 

Of utter space, where not an atom mars 

The void invisible, it were easier far 

To cast a line and calculate its rate. 

Or pierce all space, nor cross the path of light, 

Than fathom man's dark heart or sound his soul. 

Scene - — Heaven, 

Lucifer and Festus, entering. 

The Archangels. Infinite God! Thy will is done: 
The world's last sand is all but run ; 
The night is feeding on the sun. 

Lucifer. All-being God ! I come to Thee again, 
Nor come alone. Mortality is here. 
Thou bad'st me do my will, and I have dared 
To do it. I have brought him up to Heaven. 

God. 
Thou canst not do what is not willed to be. 
Suns are made up of atoms, Heaven of souls ; 
And souls and suns are but the atoms of 
The body I, God, dwell in. What wilt thou 
"With him who is here with thee ? 

Lucifer. Shew him God. 

God. 
No being, upon part of whom the curse 
Of death rests — were it only on his shadow, 
Can look on God and live. 

Lucifer. Look, Festus, look ! 

Festus. Eternal fountain of the Lifinite, 
On whose life-tide the stars seem strewn like bubbles, 
Forgive me that an atomie of being 
Hath sought to see its Maker face to face. 
I have seen all Thy works and wonders, passed 
From star to star, from space to space, and feel 
That to see all which can be seen is nothing, 



FESTUS. 213 

And not to look on Thee the Invisible. 

The spirits that I met all seemed to say, 

As on they sped upon their stanvard course, [me, 

And slackened their lightning wings one moment o'er 

I could not look on God whate'er I was. 

And Thou didst give this spirit at my side 

Power to make me more than them immortal. 

So when we had winged through Thy wide world of 

things, 
And seen stars made and saved, destroyed and judged, 
I said — and trembled lest Thou shouldst not hear me, 
And make Thyself right ready to forgive, 
I will see God, before I die, in Heaven. 
Forgive me. Lord! 

God. 

Rise, mortal ! look on me. 

Festus. Oh ! I see nothing but like dazzling 
darkness. 

Lucifer. I knew how it would be. I am away. 

Festus. I am Thy creature, God ! oh, slay me not, 
But let some angel take me, or I die. 

Genius. Come hither, Festus. 

Festus. Who art thou? 

Genius. I am 

One who hath aye been by thee from thy bu'th, 
Thy guardian angel, thy good genius. 

Festus. I knew thee not till now. 

Genius. I am never seen 

In the earth's low thick light, but here in Heaven, 
And in the air which God breathes, I am clear. 
I tell to God each night thy thoughts and deeds ; 
And watching o'er thee both on earth and here. 
Pray unto Him for thee and intercede. [forgive 

Festus. And this is Heaven. Lead on. Will God 
That I did long to see Him ? 



214 FESTUS. 

Genius. It is the strain 

Of all higli spirits towards Him. Thou couldst not 
Even if thou wouldst, behold God ; masked in dust, 
Thine eye did light on darkness ; but when dead, 
And the dust shaken off the shining essence, 
God shall glow through thee as through living glass, 
And every thought and atom of thy being 
Shall guest His glory, be overbright with God. 
Hadst thou not been by faith immortalized 
For the instant, then thine eye had been thy death. 
Come, I will shew thee Heaven and all angels. 
Lo ! the recording angel. 

Festus. Him I see 

High-seated, and the pen within his hand 
Plumed like a storm-portending cloud which curves 
Half over Heaven, and swift, in use divine. 
As is a warrior's spear ! 

Genius. The book wherein 

Are writ the records of the universe, 
Lies like a world laid open at his feet. 
And there, the Book of Life which holds the names. 
Formed out in starry brilliants, of God's sons, — 
The spirit-names which angels learn by heart, 
Of worlds beforehand. Wilt thou see thine own ? 

Festus. My name is written in the Book of Life- 
It is enough. That constellated word 
Is more to me and clearer than all stars. 
Henceforward and for aye. 

Genius. Raise still thine eyes ! 

Thy gleaming throne ! hewn from that mount of light 
Which was before created light or night 
Never created, Heaven's eternal base, 
Whereon God's throne is 'stablished. Sit on it ! 

Festus. Nay, I will forestall nothing more than 
sight. [spirits sport 

Genius. Turn then and view jon streams where 



FESTUS. 215 

Quaffing immortal life, preparing aye 

For higher and intenser Being still. 

These are the upper fountains of the Heavens, 

The emanations of Eternity ; 

By washing them in which they purify 

Their eyes to penetrate the essential Hght 

In all things hidden, seen alone by eyes 

Fire-spirited, etherially clear, 

"Which hke the fabled stone, conceived of fire, 

Son of the sun, transmutes all seen to soul. 

Aad such the bliss and power reserved for man ; 

Yet but the surface-shadow canst thou see. 

The substance is to be. Behold yon group 

Of spirits blest ! in their divinest eyes 

The spirit speaks, and shews that in their own 

All doubt and want hath ceased, as death hath ceased. 

Hither they come, rejoicing, marvelling. 

Festus How all with kindly wonder look on me ! 
Mayhap I tell of earth to their pure sense. 
Some seem as if they knew me. I know none. 
But how claim kinship with the glorified 
Unless with them like-glorified ! Yet, yes — 
It is — it must be ; — that angelic spirit ! — 
My heart outruns me — mother ! see thy son, 

Angel. Child, how art thou here ? 

Festus. God hath let me come. [prepared? 

Angel. Hast thou not come unbidden and un- 

Festus. Forgive me, if it be so. I am come. 
And I have ever said there are two who will 
Forgive me aught I do — my God and thou ! 

Angel. I do ! may He ! 

Festus. Dear mother, thou art blessed ; 
And I am blessed, too, in knowing thee. 

Angel. Son of my hopes on earth and prayers 
In Heaven ! , 

The love of God ! oh, it is infinite 



216 lESTUS. 

Even as our imperfection. Promise, cliild, 
That thou wilt love Him more and more for this, 
And for His boundless kindness thus towards me. 
Now, my son, hear me ! for the hours of Heaven 
Are not as Ihose of earth; and all is all 
But lost that is not given unto God. 
Oft have I seen with joy thy thoughts of Heaven, 
And holy hopes, which track the soul with light, 
Rise from dead doubts within thy troubled breast, 
As souls of drowned bodies from the sea. 
Upwards to God, and marked them so received. 
That oh ! my soul hath overflowed with rapture 
As now thine eye with tears. But oh ! my son 
Beloved ! fear thou ever for thy soul ; 
It yet hath to be saved. Nought perfect stands 
But that which is in Heaven. God is all-kind ; 
And long time hath he made thee think of Him ; 
Think on Him yet in time. Ere I left earth. 
With the last breath which air would spare for me. 
With the last look which light would bless me with, 
I prayed thou mightst be happy and be wise — 
And half the prayer I brought myself to God — 
And lo ! thou art unhappy and unwise. [clear, 

Festus. Blessed one ! I rejoice that thou art 
And all who have cared for me, of my misdeeds. 
Thy spirit was on those who nurtured me. 
All word and practice that could be of good. 
Was given me ; so that my sin is splendid. 
Yes ! if I have sinned, I have sinned sublimely ; 
And I am glad I suffer for my faults. 
I would not if I might, be bad and happy [allows it. 

Angel. God laughs at ill by mah made and 
The vaunt of mountainlous evil and the power 
To challenge Heaven from a molehill, child ! 

Festus. God hath made but few better hearts 
than mine, 



FESTUS. 217 

However rnucli it fail in tlie wise ways 
Of the world, as living in the dull dark streets 
Of forms and follies wherein men build themselves. 
Angel. The goodness of the heart is shewn in 

deeds 
Of peacefulness and kindness. Hand and heart 
Are one thing with the good as thou shouldst be. 
The splendor of corruption hath no power 
Nor vital essence ; and content in sin 
Shews apathy, not satisfied control. 
Dff my words trouble thee ? Then treasure them. 
Pain overgot gives peace as death does Heaven. 
All things that speak of Heaven speak of peace. 
Peace hath more might than war. High brows 

are calm. [suns, 

Great thoughts are still as stars ; and truths, like 
Stir not ; though many systems tend round them. 
Mind's step is still as death's ; and all great things 
"Which cannot be controlled, whose end is good. 
Behold yon thi'one ! there, Love, Faith, Hope are 

one ! 
There, judgment, righteousness, and mercy make 
One and the same thing. God's salvation is 
His vengeance, and his wrath glory, as on earth 
Destruction restoration to the pure. 
Humanity is perfected in Heaven. [soul. 

Festus. I did not make myself, nor plan my 
I am no angel nursed in the lap of light, 
Nor fed on milk immortal of the stars. 
Nor golden fruit grown in the summery suns. 
How am I answerable for my heart ? 
It is my master, and is free with me, 
As fixed with fate, even as a star which moves, 
Yet moveth only on a certain course 
In certain mode ; — its liberties are laws, 



218 FESTUS. 

Its laws tyrannic ; I cannot hinder it, 

It cannot hinder God. All that we do 

Or bear is settled from eternity ; 

Whereof is no beginning, midst, nor end. 

To act, is ours ; quite sure, whate'er we do, 

"Whether it be for our own good or ill, 

Or others' ill or good, it is for God's 

Glory — the same and always: it is ordered. 

The soul is but an organ, and it hath 

No power of good and evil in itself, 

More than the eye hath power of light or dark. 

God fitted it for good ; and evil is 

Good in another way we are not skilled in. 

The good we do is of His own good will, — 

The ill, of His own letting. Doth not nature — 

All light in life, shine, marsh-like, too, in death ? 

Yea, wandering fires wait even on rottenness 

Like a stray gleam of thought in an idiot's brain. 

And thus I look on souls that seem decaying 

In sin, and flying off by elements. 

All may not live again ; but all which do 

]Must change perpetually e'en in Heaven ; 

And not by death to death, but life to life. 

Angel. No ! step by step, and tlirone by throne, 
Continually towards the infinite, [we rise 

And ever nearer — never near — to God. 

Festus. Yet merit or demerit none I see 
In nature, human or material, 
In passions or affections good or bad. 
We only know that God's best purposes 
Are oftenest brought about by dreadest sins. 
Is thunder evil or is dew divine ? 
Does virtue lie in sunshine, sin in storm ? 
Is not each natural, each needful, best? 
How know we what is evil from what irood ? 
Wrath and reven2;e God claimeth as His own. 



FESTUS. 219 

And yet men speculate on right and wrong 

As upon day and night, forgetting both 

Have but one cause, and that the same — God's will, 

Originally, ultimately Hun. 

All right is right divine. A worm hath rights 

A kmg cannot despoil him of, nor sin ; 

Yet wrongs are things necessitate, like wants, 

And oft are well permitted to best ends. 

A double error sometimes sets us right. 

In man there is no rule of right and wrong 

Inherent as mere man. Why, conscience is 

The basest thing of all. Its hfe is passed 

In justifying and condemning sin ; 

AccompHce, traitor, judge and headsman, too, 

But conscience knows its business and performs. 

Nothmg is lost in nature ; and no soul, 

Though buried in the centre of all sin. 

Is lost to God ; but there it works His will 

And burns comformably. The weakest things 

Are to be made the examples of His might; 

The most defective, of His perfect grace, 

"VYhene'er He thinketh well. Oh ! everytliing 

To me seems good and lovely and immortal ; 

The whole is beantiful ; and I can see 

Nought wrong in man nor nature, nought not meant 

As from His hands it comes who fashions all. 

All holy as His word. The world is but 

A revelation. He breathes Himself upon us 

Before our birth, as o'er the formless void 

He moveth at first, and we are all inspired 

With His spirit. All things are God or of God. 

For the whole world is in the mmd of God 

What a thought is in ours. Why boast we then 

Of aught ? All that is good belongs to God ; 

And good and God are all things, or shall be. 



220 FESTUS. 

Angel. There lacks in souls like tliine unsaved, 
unraised, 
The light within — the light of perfectness — 
Such as there is in Heaven. The soul hath sunk 
And perished like a light-house in the sea ; 
It is for God to raise it and rebuild. [with me, 

Genius. And his, thy son's, He will raise. Since 
I have shewn him infinite wonders : we have oped 
And scanned the golden scroll of Fate, wherein 
Are writ, in God's own hand, all things which 

happen. 
There we have seen the record of his being — 
His long temptation, sin, and suffering. 

Festus. And hear it, oh beloved and blessed one I 
Mine own salvation ! 

Angel. God is gi-eat in love ; 

Infinite in His nature, power, and grace ; 
Creating, and redeeming, and destroying — 
Infinite infinitely. But in love — 
Oh ! it is the truth transcendant over all — 
"When thus to one poor spirit He gives His hand, 
He seems to impart His own unboundedness 
Of bliss. We seem to be hardly worth destroying, 
And much less saving ; yet He loveth each 
As though all were His equal. 

Festus. I know all 

I have to go through henceforth, — all the doubts, 
Passions of life, and woes ; but knowing them 
Hinders them not ; I bear obeymgly ; 
And pine no more, as once when I looked back 
And saw how life had balked, and foiled, and fooled 
Fresh as a spouting spring upon the hills [me. 

My heart leapt out to life ; it little thought 
Of all the vile cares that would rill into it, 
And the low places it would have to go through, — 



FESTUS. 221 

The drains, the crossings, and the mill-work aftcir. 

God hath endowed me with a soul that scorns life — 

An element over and above the world's : 

But the price one pays for pride is mountain-high, 

There is a curse beyond the rack of death — 

A woe, wherein God hath put out His strength — 

A pain past all the mad wretchedness we feel, 

When the sacred secret hath flown out of us, 

And the heart broken open by deep care, — 

The curse of a high spirit famishing, 

Because all earth but sickens it. 

Angel. Go, child! 

Fulfil thy fate! Be — do — bear — and thank God! 
To me it seems as I had lived all ages 
Since I left earth ; and thou art yet scarce man. 

Festus. It was not, mother, that I knew thy face; 
The luminous eclipse that is on it now, [strange 

Though it was fair on earth, would have made it 
Even to one who knew as well as he loved thee ; 
And if these time-tired eyes ever imaged thine. 
It was but for a moment, and the sight 
Passed ; and my life was broken like a line 
At the first word — but my heart cried out in me. 

Angel. I knew thee well. And now to earth 
again ! 
Go, son ! and say to all who once were mine — 
I love them, and expect them. 

Festus. Blessed one ! 

I will. 

Angel. I charge thee, Genius, bear him safely. 

Genius. Through light, and night, and all the 
I have a passport. [powers of air, 

Angel. God be with thee, child ! 

Genius. Come ! 

Festus. I feel happier, better, nobler now 



222 FESTUS. 

See where she sits, and smiles, and points me out 
To those who sit along with her. Who are 
The two? 

Genius. One is the mother of mankind, 
And one the mother of the Man who saved 
Mankind ; and she, thine own, the mother of 
The last man of mankind — for thou art he. 

Festus. Am I ? It is enough : I have seen God. 

Genius. God and His great idea, the universe, 
Are over and above us. Be the one 
"Worshipped, the other reverently proved. 
"Wilt sojourn for a time among the worlds, 
And tesfc their natures ? 

Festus. Gladly. 

Genius. Seek we, then, 

All rareness and variety these worlds 
Can offer, ere we reach thine orb. Descend ! 
Now is the age of worlds. 

Scene — A Visit 

Festus and Helen. 

Helen. Come to the light, love ! Let me look on 
thee ! 
Let me make sure I have thee. Is it thou ? 
Is this thy hand ? Are these thy velvet lips, — 
Thy lips so lovable ? Nay, speak not yet ! 
For oft as I have dreamed of thee, it was 
Thy speaking woke me. I will dream no more. 
Am I alive ? And do I really look 
Upon these soft and sea-blue eyes of thine, 
Wlierein I half believe I can espy 
The riches of the sea ? These dark rolled locks ! 
Oh God ! art Thou not glad, too, he is here ! — 
AYhere hast thou been so long ? Never to hear, 



FESTUS. 223 

Never to see, nor see one who had seen thee — 
Come now, confess it was not kind to treat 
Me in this manner. 

Festus. I confess, mj love, 

But I have been where neither tongue, nor pen, 
Nor hand could give thee token where I was ; 
And seen, but 'tis enough ! I see thee now. 
I would rather look upon thy shadow there, 
Than Heaven's brij^jht thrones for ever. 

Helen. Where hast been ? 

Festus. Say, am I altered ? 

Helen. Nowise. 

Festus. It is well. 

Then in the resurrection we may know 
Each other. I have been among the worlds. 
Angels and spirits bodiless. 

Helen. Great God ! 

Can it be so ? 

Festus. It is : — and that both here 
And elsewhere. When the stars come, thou shalt see 
The track I travelled throiijirh the lisrht of nig^ht ; 
Where I have been, and whence my visitors. 

Helen. And thou hast been with angels all the while. 
And still dost love me ? 

Festus. Constantly as now. 

But for the time I did devote my soul 
To their divine society, I knew 
Thou wouldst forgive, yet dared not trust myself 
To see thee, or to pen one word, for fear 
Thy love should overpower the plan conceived. 
And acting, in my mind, of visiting 
The spirits in their space-embosomed homes. 

Helen. Forgive thee ! 'tis a deed which merits 
love. 
And should I not be proud, too, who can say. 



224 FESTUS. 

For me lie left all angels ? 

Festus. I forethonglit 

So thou wouldst say ; but witli an offering 
Came I provided, even with a trophy 
Of love angelic, given me for thee ; 
For angel bosoms know no jealousy. 

Helen. Shew me. 

Festus. It is of jewels I received 

From one who snatched them from the richest wreck 
Of matter ever made, the holiest 
And most resplendent. 

Helen. "Wliy, what could it be ? 

Jewels are bawbles only ; whether pearls 
From the sea's lightless depths, or diamonds 
Culled from the mountain's crown, or chrysolith, 
Cat's eye or moonstone, toys are they at best. 
Jewels are not of all things in my sight 
Most precious. 

Festus. Nor in mine. It is in the use 
Of which they may be made their value lies ; 
In the pure thoughts of beauty they call up, 
And qualities they emblem. So in that 
Thou wearest there, thy cross ; — to me it is 
Suggestive of bright thoughts and hopes in Him 
Whose one great sacrifice availeth all. 
Living and dead, through all Eternity. 
Not to the wanderer over southern seas 
Rises the constellation of the Cross 
More lovelily o'er sky and calm blue wave, 
Than does to me that bright one on thy breast. 
As diamonds are purest of all things. 
And but embodied light which fire consumes 
And renders back to air, that nought remains, -— 
And as the cross is symbol of our creed, 
So let that ornament signify to thee 



FESTUS. 225 

The faith of Christ, all purity, all light, 

Tlu'ough fervency resolving into Heaven. 

Each hath his cross, fair lady, on his heart. 

Never may thine be heavier or darker 

Than that now on thy breast, so light and bright, 

Risins: and fallins; with its bosom-swell. 

Helen. I thank thee for that wish, and for the love 

Which prompts it — the immeasurable love 

I know is mine, and I with none would share. 

Forgive me ; I have not yet felt my wdngs. 

Now have I not been patient ? Let me see 

My promised present. 

Festus. Look, then — they are here ; 

Bracelets of chrysoprase. 

Helen. Most beautiful ! 

Festus. Come, let me clasp them, dearest, on thine 
arms ; 

For these of those are worthy, and are named 
In the foundation stones of the bright city, 
Which is to be for the immortal saved. 
Their last and blest abode ; and such their hue. 
The golden green of Paradisal plains 
Which lie about it boundlessly, and more 
Intensely tinted with the burning beauty 
Of God's eye, which alone doth light that land, 
Than our earth's cold grass garment with the sun ; 
Though even in the bright, hot, blue-skied East, 
Where he doth live the life of light and Heaven ; 
Where, o'er the mountains, at midday is seen 
The morning star, and the moon tans at night 
The cheek of careless sleeper. Take them, love. 
There are no nobler earthly ornaments 
Than jewels of the city of the saved, 

Helen. But how are these of that bright city? I 
Am eager for their history. 
la 



226 FESTUS. 

Festus. They are 

Thereof prophetically, and have been — 

What I will shew thee presently, when I 

Relate the story of the angel who 

Gave them to me. 

Helen. Well ; I will wait till then, 

Or any time thou choosest : 'tis enough 

That I believe thee always ; — but would know, 

If not in me too curious to ask. 

How came about these miracles? Hast thou raised 

The fiend of fiends, and made a compact dark, 

Sealed with thy blood, symbolic of the soul, 

Whereby all power is given thee for a time, 

All means, all knowledge, to make more secure 

Thy spirit's dread perdition at the end ? 

I of such awful stories oft have heard, 

And the unlawful lore which ruins souls. 

Myself have charms, foresee events in dreams ; 

Can prophesy, prognosticate, know well 

The secret ties between many magic herbs 

And mortal feelings, nor condemn myself 

For knowing what is innocent ; but thou ! 

Thy helps are mightier far and more obscure. 

Was it with wand and circle, book and scull, 

With rites forbid and backward-jabbered prayers, 

In cross-roads or in churchyard, at full moon. 

And by instruction of the ghostly dead, 

That thou hast wrought these wonders, and attained 

Such high transcendent powers and secrets ? Speak ! 

Or is man' mastery over spirits not 

Of such a vile and vulgar consequence ? 

Festus. Were not my heart as guiltless of all mirth 

As is the oracle of an extinct god 

Of its priest-prompted answer, I might smile 

To list such askings. Mind's command o'er mind, 



FESTUS. 227 

Spirit's o'er spirit, is tlie clear effect 

And natural action of an inward gift, 

Given of God, whereby the incarnate soul 

Hath power to pass free out of earth and death 

To immortality and Heaven, and mate 

With beings of a kind, condition, lot. 

All diverse from his own. This mastery 

Means but communion, the power to quit 

Life's little globule here, and coalesce 

With the great mass about us. For the rest, 

To j^aise the Devil were an infant's task 

To that of raising man. Why, every one 

Conjures the Fiend from Hell into himself 

When Passion chokes or blinds him. Sin is Hell. 

Helen. How dost thou bring a spirit to thee, 
Festus ? 

Festus. It is my will which makes it visible. 

Helen. What are those like whom thou hast seen ? 

Festus. They come, 

The denizens of other w^orlds, arrayed 
In diverse form and feature, mostly lovely ; 
In limb and wing ethereal finer far 
Than an ephemeris' pinion ; others, armed 
With gleaming plumes, that might o'ercome an air 
Of adamantine denseness, pranked with fire. 
All are of different offices and strengths, 
Pow^ers, orders, tendencies, in like degrees 
As men, with even more variety ; 
Of different glories, duties, and delights. 
Even as the light of meteor, satellite, 
Planet and comet, sun, star, nebula. 
Differ, and nature also, so do theirs. 
With them is neither need, nor sex, nor age. 
Nor generation, growth, decay, nor death ; 
Or none whom I have known ; there may be such. 



228 JTESTUS. 

Mature they are created and complete, 

Or seem to be. Perfect from God they come. 

Yet have they different degrees of beauty, 

Even as strength and holy excellence. 

Some seem of milder and more feminine 

Nature than others, Beauty's proper sex, 

Shewn but by softer qualities of soul. 

More lovable than awful, more devote 

To deeds of individual piety. 

And grace, than mighty missions fit to task 

Sublimest spirits, or the toil intense 

Of cultivating nations of their kind ; 

Or working out from the problem of the world 

The great results of God, — result, sum, cause. 

These ofttimes charged with delegated powers. 

Formative or destructive ; those, in chief. 

Ordained to better and to beautify 

Existence as it is ; with careful love 

To tend upon particular worlds or souls ; 

^Yarning and training whom they love, to tread 

The soft and blossom-bordered, silvery paths, 

"Which lead and lure the soul to Paradise, 

Making the feet shine which do walk on them ; 

"While each doth God's great will alike, and both 

"With their whole nature's fulness love His works. 

To love them lifts the soul to Heaven. 

Helen. Let me, then ! 

"Whence come they ? 

Festus. Many of them come from orbs 

Wherein the rudest matter is more worth 
And fair than queenly gem ; the dullest dust 
Beneath their feet is rosy diamond : — 
Others, direct from Heaven ; but all in high 
And serious love towards those to whom they come. 
None but the blest are free to visit where 



FESTUS. 229 

Thej choose. The lost are slaves for ever ; here 

Never but on their Master's merciless 

Business, nor elsewhere. Still sometimes with these 

Dark spirits have I held communion, 

And in their soul's deep shadow, as within 

A mountain cavern of the moon, conversed 

With them, and w^orraed from them the gnawing truth 

Of their extreme perdition ; markinj? oft 

Nature revealed by torture, as a leaf 

Unfolds itself in fire and writhes the while, 

Burning, yet unconsumed. Others there are 

Come garlanded with flowers unwdthering. 

Or crowned with sunny jewels, clad in light, 

And girded with the lightning, in their hands 

Wands of pure rays or arrowy starbeams ; some 

Bright as the sun self-lit, in stature tall, 

Strong, straight and splendid as the golden reed 

Whereby the height, and length, and breadth, and 

Of the descendant city of the skies, [depth, 

In which God sometime shall make glad with man. 

Were measured by the angel ; (the same reed 

Wherewith our Lord was mocked that angel found 

Close by the Cross and took ; God made it gold, 

And now it makes the sceptre of His Son 

Over all worlds : the sole bright rule of Heaven, 

The measure of immortal life, the scale 

Of power, love, bliss, and glory infinite) : — 

Some gorgeous and gigantic, who with wrings 

Wide as the wings of armies in the field 

Drawn out for death, sweep over Heaven, and eyes 

Deep, dark as sea-worn caverns, with a torch 

At the end, far back, glaring. Some with wings 

Like an unfaintinij rainbow, studded round 

With stones of every hue and excellence. 

Writ o'er with mystic words which none may read, 



230 FESTUS. 

But those to whom their spiritual state 

Gives correlative meaning, fit thereto. 

Some of these visit me in dreams ; with some 

Have I made one in visions, in their own 

Abodes of brightness, blessedness, and power : 

And know moreover I shall joy with them, 

Ere long their sacred guest, through ages yet 

To come, in worlds not now perhaps create, 

As they have been mine here : and some of them 

In unimaginable splendours I [light, 

Have wallvcd with through their winged worlds of 

Double and triple particoloured suns. 

And systems circling each the other, clad 

In tints of light and air, whereto tliis earth 

Hath nothing like, and man no knowledge of : — 

Orbs heaped with mountains, to the which ours are 

Mere grave-mounds, and their skies flowered with 

Violet, rose or pearl-hued, or soft blue, [stars, 

Golden or green, the light now blended, now 

Alternate ; many moons and planets, full, 

Crescent, or gibbous-faced, illumining 

In periodic and intricate beauty. 

At once those strange and most felicitous skies. 

Helen. How I should love to visit other worlds, 
Or see an angel ! 

Festus. Wilt thou now ? 

Helen. I dare not. 

Not now at least. I am not in the mood. 
Ere I behold a spirit I would pray. 

Festus. Light as a leaf thy step, or arrowy 
Footing of breeze upon a waveless pool ; 
Sudden and soft, too, like a waft of light, 
The beautiful immortals come to me ; 
Oh, ever lovely, ever welcome they ! [thus ? 

Helen. But why art thou, of all men, favoured 



FESTUS. 231 

To saj there is a mysteiy in this 

Or aught is only to confess God. Speak ! 

Festus. It is God's will that I possess this power, 
Thus to attract great spirits to mine own, 
As steel magnetically charged draws steel ; 
Himself the magnet of the universe, 
Hound whom all spirits tremble, and towards whom 
All tend. 

Helen. If as thou say est, it is good : — 
May it be an immortal good to thee. [have. 

Sestus. There is no keeping back the power we 
He hath no power who hath not power to use. 
Some of these bodies whom I speak of are 
Pure spirits, others bodies soulical : 
For spirit is to soul as wind to air. 
They give me all I seek, and at a wish 
"Would furnish treasures, thrones, or palaces ; 
But all these things have I eschewed, and chosen 
Command of mind alone, and of the world 
Unbodied and all-lovely. 

Helen. Is not this 

Pleasure too much for mortal to be good ? 

Festus. All pleasure is with Thee, God ! else- 
where, none. 
Not silver-ceiled hall nor golden throne. 
Set tliick with priceless gems, as Heaven with stars, 
Or the high heart of youth with its bright hopes ; — 
!Nor marble gleaming like the white moonhght, 
As 't were an apparition of a palace 
Inlaid with light as is ^ waterfall ; — 
Not rainbow-pinions coloured like yon cloud. 
The sun's broad banner o'er his western tent. 
Can match the briHit ima2;inin2;s of a child 
Upon the glories of his coming years ; 
How equal, then, the full-assured faith 



232 FESTUS. 

Of him to whom the Saviour hath vouchsafed 

The Heaven of His bosom ? What can tempt 

In its performance equal to that promise ? 

My soul stands fast to Heaven as doth a star ; 

And only God can move it who moves all. 

There are Avho might have soared to what I spurned ; 

And like to heavenly orders human souls ; 

Some fitted most for contemplation, some 

For action, these for thrones, and those for wheels. 

Helen. Tell me what they discourse upon, these 
angels ? [less 

Festus. They speak of what is past or coming, 
Of present tilings or actions. Some say most 
About the future, others of the gone, 
The dim traditions of Eternity, 
Or Time's first golden moments. One there was — 
From whose sweet lips elapsed as from a well, 
Continuously, truths which made my soul 
As they sank in it, fertile with rich thoughts — 
Spake to me oft of Heaven, and our talk 
"Was of divine things always — angels, Heaven, 
Salvation, immortahty, and God ; 
The ditferent states of spirits and the kinds 
Of Being in all orbs, or physical, 
Or intellectual. I never tired 
Preferring questions, but at each response 
My soul drew back, seahke, into its depths 
To urge another charge on him. This spirit 
Came to me daily for a long, long time. 
Whene'er I prayed his presence. Many a world 
He knew right well which man's eye never yet 
Hath marked, nor ever may mark while on earth ; 
Yet grew his knowledge every time he came. 
His thoughts all great and solemn and serene, 
Like the immensest features of an orb. 



FESTUS. 233 

Whose eyes are blue seas, and whose clear broad 

brow, 
Some cultured continent, came ever round 
From truth to truth — day brmging as they came. 
Pie was to me an all-explaming spirit, 
Teaching divine things by analogy 
With mortal and material. Thus of God, 
He shewed, as the three primal rays make one 
Sole beam of Light, so the three Persons make 
One God ; neither without the other is. 
However bright or beautiful itself 
The theme he touched, he made it more so by 
His own light, like a fire-fly on a flower. 
And one of all I knew the most of, yet 
The least can say of him ; for full oft 
Our thoughts drown speech, like to a foaming force, 
Which thunders down the echo it creates. 
Yet must I somewhat tell of him. He was 
The spirit evil of the universe. 
Impersonate. Oh, strange and wild to know ! 
Perdition and destruction dwelt in him, 
Like to a pair of eagles in one nest. 
Hollow and wasteful as a whirlwind was 
His soul ; his heart as earthquake, and engulphed 
World upon world. In him they disappeared 
As might a morsel in a lion's maw, 
The world which met him rolled aside to let him 
Pass on his piercing path. His eyeballs burned 
Revolving lightnings like a world on fire ; 
Their very night was fatal as the shade 
Of Death's dark valley. And his space-spread 

wino;s — 
Wide as the wings of Darkness when she rose 
Scowling, and backing upwards, as the sun. 
Giant of Light, first donned his burning crown, 



234 FESTUS. 

Gladdening all Heaven witli his inaugural smile, — 

Were stained with the blood of many a starry world : 

Yea, I have seen him seize upon an orb, 

And cast it careless into worldless space, 

As I might cast a pebble in the sea. 

His might upon this earth was wondrous most. 

He stood a match for mountains. Ocean's depths 

He clove unto their rock-bed, as a sword. 

Through blood and muscle to the central bone. 

With one swoop of his arm. His brow was pale — 

Pale as the life-blood of the undying worm 

Which writhes around its frame of vital fire. 

His voice blew like the desolating gust 

Which strips the trees, and strews the earth with death. 

His words were ever like a wheel of fire, 

Rolling and burning this way now, now that : 

Now whirling forth a blinding beam, now soft 

And deep as Heaven's own luminous blue — and 

now 
Like to a conqueror's chariot wheel they came. 
Sodden with blood and slow, revolving death : 
And every tone fell on the ear and heart, 
Heavy and harsh and startling, like the first 
Handful of mould cast on the cofiined dead. 
As though he claimed them his. 

Lucifer entering. Dost recognize 

The portrait, lady ? 

Helen. Festus ! who is this ? 

What portrait ? — 

Festus. Wherefore comest thou ? Did I not 
Claim privacy one evening ? 

Lucifer. Why, indeed — 

I simply called, as I was on my way 
To Jupiter — and he's a mouthful, mind ; — 
To keep the proverbs, too, in countenance. 



FESTUS. 235 

Any commands for our planetary friends .'' 

I go. Make my excuses ! [ Goes. 

Festus. a mistake, 

Dearest ; but rectified. [^ApaH.'] And lie is gone ! 
Hell hatli its own again. Some sorrow chills 
Ever the spirit, like a cloudlet nursed 
In the star-giant's bosom. 

Helen. Tell me, love, 

More of these angels ! 

Festus. There was one I loved 

Of^ those immortals, of a lofty air. 
Dimly divine and sad, and side by side 
Him whom I spake of first she oft would stand 
With her fair form — shadow illuminate — 
Like to the dark moon in the young one's arms. 
She never murmured at the doom which made 
The sorrow that contained her, as the air 
Infolds the orb whereon we dwell, but spake 
Of God's will alway as most good and wise. 
She had but little pleasure ; but her all, 
Such as it was, was in devising plans 
Of bliss to come, or in the tales of Time 
And the sweet early earth. She was in truth. 
Our earth's own angel. Ofttimes would she dwell 
With long and luminous sweetness on her theme, 
Unwearying, unpausing, as a world. 
The sun would rise and set ; the soul-like moon, 
In passive beauty and receptive light, — 
Absorbing inspiration from the sun. 
As doth from God His prophet ceaselessly — 
She too would rise and set ; and the far stars, 
The third estate of Light, complete the round 
Of the divine day ; — still our angel spake. 
And still I listened to the eloquent tongue 
Which e'en on earth retained the tone of Heaven. 



236 FESTUS. 

The shadow of a cloud upon a lake, 

O'er v/hich the wind hath all day held his breath, 

Is not more calm and fair than her dear face — 

So sweetly sad and so consolingly, 

When she spake even on the end of earth. 

Save that her eye grew darker, and her brow 

Brighter with thought, as with galactic light 

Mid Heaven when clearest, at such times, not I 

Had known that earth were dearer unto her 

Than other of the visitants divine, 

Which hallow oft mine hours ; — save, too, that then, 

As though to touch but on that topic had, [cease 

Torpedo-like, numbed thought, she would straight 

All converse suddenly, and kneel and seem 

Inwardly praying with much power, — rise. 

And vanish into Heaven. My mind is full 

Of stories she hath told me of our world. 

No word an angel utters lose I ever. 

One I will tell thee now. 

Helen. Do ! let me hear ! 

Thy talk is the sweet extract of all speech, 
And holds mine ear in blissful slavery. 

Festus. 'T was on a lovely summer afternoon, 
Close by the grassy marge of a deep tarn. 
Nigh halfway up a mountain, that we stood, 
I and the angel, when she told me this. 
Above us rose the grey rocks, by our side 
Forests of pines, and the bright breaking wavelets 
Came crowding, dancing to the brink, like thoughts 
Unto our lips. Before us shone the sun. 
The angel waved her hand ere she began, 
As bidding earth be still. The birds ceased singing 
And the trees breathing, and the lake smoothed 

down 
Each shining wrinkle, and the wind drew off. 



FESTUS. 237 

Time leant liim o'er his scythe and, listening, wept. 
The circling world reined iii her lightnmg pace 
A moment ; Ocean hushed his snow-maned steeds, 
And a cloud hid the sun, as does the face 
A meditative hand : then spake she thus : — 
Scarce had the sweet song of the morning stars, 
Which rang through space at the first sign of life 
Our earth gave, springing from the lap of God 
On to her orbit, when from Heaven 
Came down a white-winged host ; and in the east, 
Where Eden's Pleasance was, first furled their 

wings. 
Alighting like to snowflakes. There they built, 
Out of the riches of the soil around, 
A house to God. There were the ruby rocks, 
And there, in blocks, the quarried diamonds lay ; 
Opal and emerald mountain, amethyst. 
Sapphire and chrysoprase, and jacinth stood 
With the still action of a star, all light, 
Like sea-based icebergs, blinding. These, with tools 
Tempered in Heaven, the band angeUe wrought. 
And raised, and fitted, having first laid down 
The deep foundations of the holy dome 
On bright and beaten gold ; and aU the Avhile 
A song of glory hovered round the work 
Like rainbow round a fountain. Day and night 
Went on the hallowed labor till 't was done. 
And yet but thrice the sun set, and but thrice 
The moon arose ; so quick is work divine. 
Tower, and roof, and pinnacle, without. 
Were solid diamond. Witliin, the dome 
Was eyeblue sapphire, sown with gold-bright stars 
And clustering constellations ; the wide floor 
All emerald, earthlike, veined with gold and silver, 
Marble and mineral of every hue 



238 FESTUS. 

And marvellous quality, the meanest thing, 

AVhere all things were magnificent, was gold, — 

The plainest. The high altar there was shaped 

Out of one ruby heartlike. Columned round 

"With alabaster pure was all. And now 

So high and bright it shone in the midday light, 

It cou!d be seen from Heaven. Upon their thrones 

The sun-eyed angels hailed it, and there rose 

A hurricane of blissfulness in Heaven, 

Whieh echoed for a thousand years. One dark, 

One solitary and foreseeing thought, 

Passed, like a planet's transit o'er the sun, 

Across the brow of God ; but soon he smiled 

Towards earth, and that smile did consecrate 

The temple to Himself. And they who built 

Bowled themselves down and worshipped in its walls 

Ilidi on the front were writ these words — to God ! 

The heavenly built this for the earthly ones, 

That in his worship both might mix on earth. 

As afterward they hoped to do in Heaven. 

Had man stood good in Eden this had been : 

He fell and Eden vanished. The bright place 

Reared by the angels of all precious things, 

For the joint worship of the sons of earth 

And Heaven, fell with him, on the very day 

He should have met God and His angels there — 

The very day he disobeyed and joined 

The host of death blackbannered. Eden fell ; 

The groves and grounds, which God the Lord's own 

feet 
Had hallowed ; the all-hued and odorous bowers 
Wliere angels wandered, wishing them in Heaven ; 
The trees of life and knowledge — trees of death 
And madness, as they proved to man — all fell ; 
And that brio;ht fane fell first. No death-doomed eye 



FESTUS. 239 

Gazed on its glory. Earthquakes gulped it down. 

The Temple of the Angels, vast enough 

To hold all nations Avorshipping at once, 

Lay in its grave ; the cherubs' flaming swords 

The sole sad torches of its funeral. 

Till at the flood, when the world's giant heart 

Burst like a shell, it scattered east and west, 

And far and wide, among less noble ruins. 

The fragments of that angel-builded fane. 

Which was in Eden, and of which all stones 

Tl;^t now are precious, were ; and still shall be, 

Gathered again unto a happier end, 

In the pure City of the Son of God, 

And temple yet to be rebuilt in Zion ; 

Which, though once overthrown, and once again 

Torn down to its foundations, in the quick 

Of earth, shall soul-like yet re-rise from ruin — 

High, holy, happy, stainless as a star. 

Imperishable as eternity. 

— The angel ended ; and the winds, waves, clouds. 

The sun, the woods, and merry birds went on 

As theretofore, in brightness, strength and music. 

One scarce could think that earth at all had fallen. 

To look upon her beauty. If the brand 

Of sin were on her brow, it was surely hid 

In natural art from every eye but God's. 

All things seemed innocence and happiness. 

I was all thanks. And look ! the angel said. 

Take these, and give to one thou lovest best : 

Mine own hands saved from them the shining ruin 

Whereof I have late told thee ; and she gave 

What now are greenly glowing on thine arms. 

Ere I could answer, she was up, star-high ! 

Winging her way through Heaven. 

Helen. How shall I thank thee 

Enough, or that kind angel who hath made 



240 FESTUS. 

The gift to me dear doubly ? I shall be 
Afraid almost to wear them, but would not 
Part with them for the treasures of all worlds. 
How shew my thanks ? 

Festus. Love me as now, dear beauty ! 

Present or absent always, and 't will be 
More than enough of recompense for me. 

Helen. Hast met that angel late-while ? 

Festus. I have not. 

Yet oft methinks I see her, catch a glimpse 
Of her sun-circling pinions or bright feet 
Which fitter seem for rainbows than for earth, 
Or Heaven's triumphal arch, more firm and pure 
Than the world's whitest marble ; — see her seated oft 
On some high snowy cloud-cliff, harp in hand. 
Singing the sun to sleep as down he lays 
His head of glory on the rocking deep : 
And so sine thou to me. 

Helen. There, rest thyself. [^SincfS, 

Oh ! not the diamond starry bright 

Can so delight my view, 
As doth the moonstone's changing light 

And gleamy glowing hue ; 
Now blue as Heaven, and then anon 

As golden as the sun, 
It hath a charm in every change — 

In brightening, darkening, one. 

And so with beauty, so with love, 

And everlasting mind ; 
It takes a tint from Heaven above, 

And shines as it 's inclined ; 
Or from the sun, or towards the sun. 

With blind or brilliant eye, 
And only h'ghts as it reflects 

The life-light of the sky. 



FESTUS. 241 

He sleeps ! The fate of many a gracious moral 
This, to be stranded on a drowsy ear. 

Scene — Home. Festus, and Helen at her 
Piano. — Dusk. 

Helen. I cannot live away from thee. How can 
A flower live without its root ? 

Festus. I, too, 

Must love or die. 

Helen. But I must have. Attend ! 

I am to say and do just as I please ; 
I may command thee, may I ? that I will. 

Festus. I love to be enslaved. Oh! I would 
rather 
Obey thee, beauty ! than rule men by millions. 

Helen. Near, as afar, I will have love the same — 
With a bright sameness, like this diamond. 
Which, wherever the light be, shines like bright. 
And thou shalt say all sorts of pretty things 
To me ; mind, to me only : write love-songs 
About me, and I will sing them to myself; 
Perhaps to thee, sometime, as it were now, 
If I should happen to be very kind. 

Festus. Sing now ! 

Helen. No ! 

Festus. Tyrant ! I will banish thee. 

Helen. Nay, if to sing and play would please 
thee, I 
Would die to music. It was very wrong 
To say I would deny thee anything ; 
But be not angry with me : for though God 
Forgave me, I could ne'er forgive myself, 
If I brought sorrow to thee, could I love ? 

Festus. As thou art empress of my bosom, No ! 
16 



242 FESTUS. 

Helen. Nought fear I but an unkind word from 
thee. 
Dark death may frighten children, Hell the wretch 
Who feels that he deserves it ; but for me, 
I know I cannot do nor saj aught worthy 
Of the pure pain a frown of thine can cause, 
Or a cold, careless look. No ! never frown. 
If I do wrong, forgive me, or I die ; 
And thou wilt then be wretcheder than I ; — 
The unforgiving than the unforgiven. 

Festus. I do absolve thee, beauty, of all faults, 
Past, present, or to come. 

Helen. Well, that will do. 

What was I saying ? I love this instrument. 
It speaks, it thinks — nay, I could kiss it : look ! 
There are three things I love half killingly ; — 
Thee lastly, and this next, and myself first. 

Festus. Thou art a silly, tiresome thing, and yet 
I never weary of thee ; but could gaze, 
Sick with excess and not satiety. 
Upon thy countenance, with the serious joy 
With which we eye and eye the unbounded space 
Wliich is the visible attribute of God, 
Who makes all things within Himself; and thus 
It is the Heaven we hope for, and can find 
No point from which to take its altitude ; 
For the Infinite is upwards, and above 
The highest thing created — upwards aye : 
So I could, thinking on thy face, believe 
An infinite expression, heightening still 
The longer that I thought, and leaving thee. 
Coming to thee, or being with thee, — love ! 

Helen. I am so happy when with thee. 

Festus. And I. 

They tell us virtue lies in self-denial. 



FESTUS. 243 

My virtue is indulgence. I was born 

To gratify myself unboundedly, [me 

So that I wronged none else. These arms were given 

To clasp the beautiful, and cleave the wave ; 

These limbs to leap and wander Avhere I will ; 

These eyes to look on every thing without 

Effort ; these ears to list my loved one's voice ; 

These lips to be divinised by her kiss : 

And every sense, pulse, passion, power, to be 

Swoln into sunny ripeness. 

Helen. Virtue is one 

With nature, or 't is nothing : it is love. 

Festus. I come fresh from thee every time Ave meet^ 
Steeped in the still sweet dew of thy soft beauty, 
Like earth at day-dawn, lifting up her head 
Out of her sleep, star-watched, to face the sun — 
So I, to front the world, on leaving thee. 
Oh ! there is inspiration in thy look ; 
Poesie, prophecy. Come hither, love ; 
The evening air is sweet. 

Helen. It comes on us 

Fresher and clearer through these dewy vine-leaves, 
Fit for the forehead of the young wine-god. 

Festus. A large, red egg of light the moon lies 
like 
On the dark moor-hill, and now, rising slow, 
Beams on the clear flood, smilingly intent. 
Like a fair face, which loves to look on itself, 
Saying — ' There is no wonder that men love me, 
For I am beautiful ! ' — as I heard thee. 

Helen. It was not right to overhear me that. 

Festus. 'T was very wrong to do what I could 
But vanity speaks out. [not help ; 

Helen. Well, I don't mind ; 

I never knew that I was as I am 



244 FESTUS. 

Till others told me. 

Festus. Now were soon enough. 

Helen. Ah, nothing comes to us too soon but 
sorrow. 

Festus. For all were happiness, if all might live 
Long, or die soon, enough : for even us. 

Helen. Dost not remember, when, the other eve, 
Thy friend the student called, there was a tale 
Upon thy tongue he interrupted ? 

Festus. Was there ? — 

Helen. A tale out of the poets, about love, 
And happiness and sorrow, and such things. 

Festus. But I forget such things when thou art 

by. 
Besides, I asked him here again, to-night. 
Here, at this hour ; and he is punctual. 

Helen. In truth, then, I despair of hearing it. 
He keeps his word relentlessly. With not 
More pride an Indian shews his foeman's scalp 
Than he his watch for punctuality. 

Festus. But tales of love are far more readily 
Made than' remembered. 

Helen. Tell-tale, make one, then. 

Festus. Love is the art of hearts and heart of arts. 
Conjunctive looks and interjectional sighs 
Are its vocabulary's greater half. 
Well then, my story says, there was a pair 
Of Lovers, once — 

Helen. Once ! nay, how singular ! 

Festus. But where they lived indeed I quite 
forget ; — 
Say anywhere — say here : their names were — I 
Forget those, too ; say any one's, say ours. 

Helen. Most probable, most pertinent, so far ! 

Festus. The lady was, of course, most beautiful, 



FESTUS. 245 

And made her lover do just as she pleased ; 
And consequently, he did very wrong. 
They met, sang, walked, talked folly, just as all 
Such couples do, adored each other ; thought, 
Spoke, wrote, dreamed of and for nought on earth 
Except themselves ; and so on. 

Helen. Pray proceed ! — 

Festus. That's all; 

Helen. Oh, no ! 

Festus. "Well, thus the tale ends ; stay ! 

No' I cannot remember nor invent. 

Helen. Do think ! 

Festus. I can't. 

Helen. Oh then, I don't like that : 

'Tis not in earnest. 

Festus. Well, in earnest, then. 
She did but look upon him, and his blood 
Blushed deeper even from his inmost heart ; 
For at each glance of those sweet eyes a soul 
Looked forth as from the azure gates of Heaven ; 
She laid her finger on liim, and he felt 
As might a formless mass of marble feel 
While feature after feature of a god 
Were being wrought from out of it. She spake, 
And his love-wildered and idolatrous soul 
Clung to the airy music of her words. 
Like a bird on a bough, high swaying in the wind. 
He looked upon her beauty and forgot. 
As in a sense of drowning, all things else ; [she 

And right and wrong seemed one, seemed nothing 
Was beauty, and that beauty everything. 
He looked upon her as the sun on earth : 
Until, like him, he gazed himself away 
From Heaven so doing ; till he even wept, — 
Wept on her bosom as a storm-charged cloud 



246 FESTUS. 

Weeps itself out upon a hill, and cried — 

I, too, could look on thee until I wept, — 

Blind me with kisses ! let me look no longer ; 

Or change the action of thy loveliness, 

Lest long same-seemingness should send me mad! — 

Blind me with kisses ; I would ruin sight 

To give its virtue to thy lips, whereon 

I would die now, or ever live ; and she. 

Soft as a feather-footed cloud on Heaven, 

While her sad face grew bright like night with stars, 

Would turn her brow to his and both be happy; — 

Numbered among the constellations they! — 

Then as tired wanderer, snow-blinded, sinks 

And swoons upon the swelling drift, and dies, 

So on her dazzling bosom w^ould he lay 

His famished lips, and end their travels there. 

Oh, happy they ! not he would go to Heaven, 

Not, though he might that moment. 

Helen. Nor I now. 

Festus. Helen, my love ! 
* Helen. Yes, I am here. 

Festus. It has 

Been such a day as that, thou knowest, when first 
I said I loved thee ; that long, sunny day 
We passed upon the waters — heeding nought, 
Seeing nought but each other. 

Helen. I remember. 

The only wise thing that I ever did — 
The only good, Avas to love thee, and therefore 
I would have no one else as wise as I, 
Didst thou not say that student would be here ? 

Festus. I think I hear him every minute come. 

Helen. It is not kind. We should be more alone. 
There was a time thou wouldst have no one else. 

Festus. Am I not with thee all day? 



FESTUS. 247 

Helen. Yes, I know ; 

But often and often thou art tliinking not 
Of me. 

Festus. My good child ! — 

Helen. Well, I know thou lovest me ; 

And so I cannot bear thee to think, speak, 
Or be with any but me. 

Festus. Then I will not. 

Helen. Oh, thou wouldst promise me the ckck 
round. Now, 
Promise me this — that I shall never die. 
And I'll beHeve thee when I am dead — not till. 
But let it pass. I am at peace wiih thee ; 
And pardon thee, and give thee leave to live. 

Festus. Magnanimous ! 

Helen. When earth, and Heaven, and all 

Things seem so bright and lovely for our sakes, 
It is a sin not to be happy. See, 
The moon is up, it is the dawn of night. 
Stands by her side one bold, bright, steady star — 
Star of her heart, and heir to all her light. 
Whereon she looks so proudly mild and calm. 
As though she were the mother of that star. 
And knew he was a chief sun in his sphere. 
But by her side, in the great strife of lights 
To shine to God, he had filially failed. 
And hid his arrows and his bow of beams. 
Mother of stars ! the Heavens look up to thee. 
They shine the brighter but to hide thy waning ; 
They wait and wane for thee to enlarge thy beauty ; 
They give thee all their glory night by night ; 
Their number makes not less thy loneliness 
Nor loveliness. 

Festus. Heaven's beauty grows on us ; 

And when the elder worlds have ta'en their seats, 



248 FESTUS. 

Come the divine ones, gathering one by one, 

Ajid family by family, with still 

And holy air, into the house of Grod — 

The house of light He hath builded for Himself, 

And worship Him in silence and in sadness, 

Immortal and immovable. And there, 

Night after night, they meet to worship God. 

For us this witness of the worlds is given. 

That we may add ourselves to their great glory, 

And worship with them. They are there for lights 

To light us on our way through Pleaven to God ; 

And we, too, have the power of light in us. 

Ye stars, how bright ye shine to night ; mayhap 

Ye are the resurrection of the worlds, — 

Glorified globes of light ! Shall ours be like ye ? 

Nay, but it is ! this wild, dark earth of ours. 

Whose face is furrowed like a losing gamester's, 

Is shining round, and bright, and smooth in air, 

Millions of miles off. Not a single path 

Of thought I tread, but that it leads to God. 

And when her time is out, and earth again 

Hath travailed with the divine dust of man. 

Then the world's womb shall open, and her sons 

Be born again, all glorified immortals. 

And she, their mother, purified by fire. 

Shall sit her down in Heaven, a bride of God, 

And handmaid of the Everbeing One. 

Our earth is learning all accomplishments 

To fit her for her bridehood. 

Helen. He is here. 

Festus. Welcome. 

Student. I thought the night was beautiful, 
But find the in-door scene still lovelier. 

Helen. Ah ! all is beautiful where beauty is. 

Student. Night hath made many bards ; she 
is so lovely. 



/ 



FESTUS. 249 

For it is beauty maketh poesie, 

As from the dancing eye comes tears of light. 

Night hath made many bards ; she is so lovely. 

And they have praised her to her starry face 

So long, that she hath blushed and left them, often. 

When first and last we met, we talked on studies ; 

Poetry only I confess is mine, 

And is the only thing I think or read of: — 

Feeding my soul upon the soft, and sweet, 

And delicate imaginings of song ; 

For as nightingales do upon glow-worms feed, 

So poets Uve upon the living light 

Of nature and of beauty ; they love light. 

Festus. But poetry is not confined to books. 
For the creative spirit which thou seekest 
Is in thee, and about thee ; yea, it hath 
God's everywhereness. 

Student. Truly. It was for this 

I sought to know thy thoughts, and hear the course 
Thou wouldst lay out for one w^ho longs to win 
A name among the nations. 

Festus. First of all. 

Care not about the name, but bind thyself, 
Body and soul, to nature, hiddenly. 
Lo, the great march of stars from earth to earth. 
Through Heaven. The earth speaks inwardly alone. 
Let no man know thy business, save some friend, — 
A man of mind, above the run of men ; 
For it is with all men and with all things. 
The bard must have a kind, courageous heart, 
And natural chivalry to aid the weak. 
He must believe the best of everything ; 
Love all below, and worshij) all above. 
All animals are living hieroglyphs. 
The dashing dog, and stealthy-stepping cat, 



9o0 FESTUS. 

Hawk, bull, and all that breathe, mean sometlimg 

more 
To the true eye than their shapes show ; for all 
Were made in love, and made to be behoved. 
Thus must he think as to earth's lower life, 
"Who seeks to win the world to thought and love, 
As doth the bard, whose habit is all kmdness 
To every thing. 

Helen. I love to hear of such. 

Could we but think with the intensity 
We love with, we might do great things, I think. 

Festds. Kindness is wisdom. There is none in 
life 
But needs it and may learn ; eye-reasoning man, 
And spirit unassisted, unobscured. 

Student. Go on, I pray. I came to be informed. 
Thou knowest my ambition, and I joy 
To feel thou feedest it with purest food. 

Festus. I cannot tell thee all I feel ; and know 
But little save myself, and am not ashamed 
To say, that I have studied my own life. 
And know it is like to a tear-blistered letter. 
Which holdeth fruit and proof of deeper feeling 
Than the poor pen can utter, or the eye 
Discover ; and that often my heart's thoughts 
Will rise and shake my breast, as madmen shake 
The stanchions of their dungeons, and howl out. 

Helen. But thou wast telling us of poesie. 
And the kind nature-hearted bards. 

Festus. I was. 

I knew one once — he was a friend of mine ; 
I knew him well ; his mind, habits, and works. 
Taste, temper, temperament, and every thing ; 
Yet with as kind a heart as ever beat, 
He was no sooner made than marred. Though 



FESTUS. 251 

He wrote amid tlie ruins of his heart ; [king, 

They were his throne and theme ; — like some lone 
Who tells the story of the land he lost, 
And how he lost it. 

Student. Tell us more of him. 

Helen. Nay, but it saddens thee. 

Festus. 'T is like enough ; 

We slip away like shadows into shade ; 
We end, and make no mark we had begun ; 
We come to nothing, like a pure intent. [aim, 

When we have hoped, sought, striven, and lost our 
Then the truth fronts us, beaming out of darkness, 
Like a white brow, through its overshadowing hair — 
As though the day were overcast, my Helen ! 
But I was speaking of my friend. He was 
Quick, generous, simple, obstinate in end, 
High-hearted from his youth ; his spirit rose 
In many a glittering fold and gleamy crest, 
Hydra-like to its hindrance ; mastering all. 
Save one thing — love, and that out-hearted him. 
Nor did he think enough, till it was over, 
How bright a thing he was breaking, or he would 
Surely have shunned it, nor have let his life 
Be pulled to pieces like a rose by a child ; 
And his heart's passions made him oft do that 
Which made him writhe to think on what he had done, 
And thin his blood by weeping at a night. 
If madness wrought the sin, the sin wrought madness, 
And made a round of ruin. It is sad 
To see the light of beauty wane away, 
Know eyes are dimming, bosom shrivelling, feet 
Losing their spring, and limbs their lily roundness ; 
But it is worse to feel our heart-spring gone, 
To lose hope, care not for the coming thing. 
And feel all things go to decay with us. 



252 FESTUS. 

As 't were our life's eleventh montli : and yet 
All this he went through young. 

Helen. Poor soul ! I should 

Have loved him for his sorrows. 

Festus. It is not love 

Brings sorrow, but love's objects. 

Student. Then he loved. 

Festus. I said so. I have seen him when he 
A letter from his lady dear, he blessed [hath had 
The paper that her hand had travelled over, 
And her eye looked on, and would think he saw 
Gleams of that light she lavished from her eyes 
"Wandering amid the words of love there traced 
Like glow-worms among beds of flowers. He 

seemed 
To bear with being but because she loved him. 
She was the sheath wherein his soul had rest, 
As hath a sword from war : and he at night 
"Would solemnly and singularly curse 
Each minute that he had not thought of her. 

Helen. Now that was like a lover ! and she loved 
Him, and him only. 

Festus. Well, perhaps it was so. 

But he could not restrain his heart, but loved 
In that voluptuous purity of taste 
Which dwells on beauty coldly, and yet kindly. 
As night-dew, whensoe'er he met with beauty. 

Helen. It was a pity, that inconstancy — 
If she he loved were but as good and fair 
As he was worthy of. 

Student. It was his way. [thing ; 

Festus. There is a dark and bright to every 
To every thing but beauty such as thine, 
And that is all bright. If a fault in hlra, 
'T was one which made him do the sweetest wrongs 



FESTUS. 253 

Man ever did. And yet a whisper went 

That he did wrong : and if that whisper had 

Echo in him or not, it mattered little ; 

Or right or wrong, he were alike unhappy. 

Ah me ! ah me ! that there should be so much 

To call up love, so little to delight ! 

The best enjoyment is half disappointment 

To that we mean or would have in this world. 

And there were many strange and sudden lights 

Beckoned him towards them ; they were wreckers' 

lights : 
But he shunned these, and righted when she rose, 
Moon of his life, that ebbed and flowed with her. 
A sea of sorrow struck him, but he held 
On ; dashed all sorrow from him as a bark 
Spray from her bow bounding ; he lifted up 
His head, and the deep ate his shadow merely. 

Helen. A poet not in love is out at sea ; 
He must have a lay-figure. 

Festus. I meant not 

To screen, but to describe this friend of mine. 

Helen. Describe the lady, too ; of course she was 
Above all praise and all comparison. 

Festus. Why, true. Her heart was all humanity, 
Her soul all God's ; in spirit and in form. 
Like fair. Her cheek had the pale pearly pink 
Of seashells, the world's sweetest tint, as though 
She lived, one half might deem, on roses sopped 
In silver dew ; she spake as with the voice 
Of spheral harmony which greets the soul 
When at the hour of death the saved one knows 
His sister angels near ; her eye was as 
The golden pane the setting sun doth just 
Imblaze ; which shews, till Heaven comes down 
asain. 



254 FESTUS. 

All other lights but grades of gloom ; her dark, 
Lono; rollin"r locks were as a stream the slave 
Might search for gold, and searching find. 

Helen. Enough ! — 

I have her picture perfect ; — quite enough. 

Student. What were his griefs ? 

Festus. He who hath most of heart 

Knows most of sorrow ; not a thing he saw 
Nor did, but was to him, at times, a woe ; 
At times indifferent, at ^imes a joy. 
Folly and sin and memory make a curse 
WhereAvith the future fires may vie in vain. 
The sorrows of the soul are gi'aver still. [he mix 

Student. Where and when did he study ? Did 
Much with the world, or was he a recluse ? 

Festus. He had no times of study, and no place ; 
All places and all times to him were one. 
His soul was like the wind-harp, which he loved, 
And sounded only when the spirit blew. 
Sometime in feasts and follies, for he went [rose 

Life-like thi^ough all things ; and his thoughts then 
Like sparkles in the bright wine, brighter still. 
Sometimes in dreams, and then the shining words 
Would wake him in the dark before his face. 
All things talked thoughts to him. The sea went 

mad. 
And the wind whined as 't were in pain, to shew 
Each one his meaning ; and the awful sun 
Thundered his thoughts into him ; and at night 
The stars would whisper theirs, the moon sigh hers. 
The spirit speaks all tongues and understands ; 
Both God's and angel's, man's and all dumb things, 
Down to an insect's inarticulate hum 
And an inaudible organ. And it was 
The spirit spake to him of everything ; 



FESTUS. 255 

And with the moony eyes like those we see, 

Thousands on thousands, crowding air in dreams, 

Looked into him its mighty meanings, till 

He felt the power fulfil him, as a cloud 

In every fibre feels the forming wind. [Heaven 

He spake the world's one tongue ; in earth and 

There is but one, it is the word of truth. 

To him the eye let out its hidden meaning; 

And young and old made their hearts over to him ; 

And thoughts were told to him as unto none 

Sav£ one who heareth said and unsaid, all. 

And liis heart held these as a grate its gleeds, 

"Where others warm them. 

Student. I would I had known him. 

Festus. All things were inspiration unto him ; 
Wood, wold, hill, field, sea, city, solitude. 
And crowds and streets, and man where'er he was ; 
And the blue eye of God which is above us ; 
Brook-bounded pine spinnies where spirits flit : 
And haunted pits the rustic hurries by, 
Wliere cold wet ghosts sit ringing jingling bells ; 
Old orchards' leaf-roofed aisles, and red cheeked 

load ; 
And the blood-coloured tears which yew trees weep 
O'er churchyard graves, like murderers remorseful. 
The dark green rings where fairies sit and sup, 
Crushing the violet dew in the acorn cup : 
Where by his new-made bride the bride-groom sips, 
The white moon shimmering on their longing lips ; 
The large o'erloaded wealthy-looking wains 
Quietly swaggering home through leafy lanes. 
Leaving on all low branches as they come. 
Straws for the birds, ears of the harvest home. 
Summer's warm soil or winter's cruel sky, 
Clear, cold and icy -blue like a sea-eagle's eye ; 



256 FESTUS. 

All things to Him bare thoughts of minstrelsy, 
He drew his light from that he was amidst, 
As doth a lamp from air which hath itself 
Matter of light although it show it not. His 
"Was but the power to light what might be lit. 
He met a muse in every lovely maid ; 
And learned a song from every lip he loved. 
But his heart ripened most 'neath southern eyes, 
Which sunned their sweets into him all day long : 
For fortune called him southwards, towards the sufv. 

Helen. Did he love music ? 

Festus. The only music he 

Or learned or listened to was from the lips 
Of her he loved, and that he learned by heart. 
Albeit, she would try to teach him tunes, 
And put his fingers on the keys ; but he 
Could only see her eyes, and hear her voice. 
And feel her touch. 

Helen. Wliy, he was much like thee. 

Festus. We had some points in common. 

Student. Was he proud ? 

Festus. Lowliness is the base of every virtue : 
And he who goes the lowest, builds the safest. 
My God keeps all his pity for the proud. 

Student. Was he world-wise ? 

Festus. The only wonder is 

He knew so much, leading the life he did. 

Student. Yet it may seem less strange when we 
think back, 
That we, in the dark chamber of the heart, 
Sitting alone, see the world tabled to us ; 
And the world wonders how recluses know 
So much, and most of all, how we know them. 
It is they who paint themselves upon our hearts 
In their own lights and darknesses, not we. | 



FESTUS. 257 

One stream of liglit is to us from above, 
And tliat is that we see bj, liglit of God. 

Festus. We do not make our thoughts; they 
grow in us 
Like grain in wood : the growth is of the skies, 
Which are of nature, nature is of God. 
The world is full of glorious liknesses. 
The poet's power is to sort these out, 
And to make music from the common strings 
With which the world is strung ; to make the dumb 
Earth utter heavenly harmony, and draw 
Life clear and sweet and harmless as spring water. 
Welling its way through flowers. Without faith. 
Illimitable faith, strong as a state's 
In its own might, in God, no bard can be. 
All things are signs of other and of nature. 
It is at night we see heaven moveth, and 
A darkness thick with suns. The thoughts we think 
Subsist the same in God as stars in Heaven. 
And as these specks of light will prove great worlds 
When we approach them sometime free from flesh. 
So too our thoughts will become masrnified 
To mind-like things immortal. And as space 
Is but a property of God, wherein 
Is laid all matter, other attributes 
May be the infinite homes of mind and soul. 
And thoughts rise from our souls, as from the sea 
The clouds sublimed in Heaven. The cloud is cold, 
Althouo;h ablaze with lightnino; — thou^-h it shine 
At all points like a constellation ; so 
We live not to ourselves, our work is life ; 
In bright and ceaseless labor as a star 
Which shineth unto all worlds but itself. 

Helen. And were tliis friend and bard of whom 
thou speakest, 
17 



258 FESTUS. 

And slie whom he did love, happy together ? 

Festus. True love is ever tragic, grievous, grave. 
Bards and their beauties are like double stars, 
One in their bright effect. 

Helen. Whose light is love. 

Student. Or is it poesie thou meanest ? 

Festus. Both : 

For love is poesie — it doth create ; 
From fading features, dim soul, doubtful heart, 
And this world's wretched happiness, a hfe 
Which is as near to Heaven as are the stars. 
They parted ; and she named Heaven's judgment-seat 
As their next place of meeting : and 't was kept 
By her, at least, so far that no where else 
Could it be made until the day of doom. [sinks 

Helen. So soon men's passion passes ! yea, it 
Like foam into the troubled wave which bore it. 
Merciful God ! let me entreat Thy mercy ! 
I have seen all the woes of men — pain, death, 
Remorse, and worldy ruin ; they are Httle 
Weighed with the woe of woman when forsaken 
By him she loved and trusted. Hear, too, thou ! 
Lady of Heaven, Mother of Grod and man. 
Who made the world His brother, one with God — 
Maid-mother ! mould of God, who wrought in thee 
By model as He doth in the world's womb. 
So that the universe is great with God — 
Thou in whom God did deify Himself, 
Betaking him into mortality. 
As in Thy Son He took it into Him, 
And from the temporal and eternal made 
Of the soul-world one same and ever God ! 
Oh, for the sake of thine own womanhood, 
Pray away aught of evil from her soul, 
And take her out of anguish unto thee, 



FESTUS. 259 

Always, as tliou didst this one ! 

Festus. Who doth not 

Believe that that he loveth cannot die ? 
There is no mote of death in thine eye's beams 
To hint of dust, or darkness, or decay ; 
Eclipse upon eclipse, and death on death ; 
No ! immortality sits mirrored there 
Like a fair face long looking on itself; 
Yet thou slialt lie in death's angelic garb 
As in a dream of dress, ray beautiful ! 
The worm shall trail across thine unsunned sweets, 
And fatten him on that men pined to death for ; 
Yea, have a further knowledge of thy beauties 
Than ever did thy best-loved lover dream of. 

Helen. It is unkind to think of me in this wise. 
Surely the stars must feel that they are bright, 
In beauty, number, nature infinite ; 
And the strong sense we have of God in us 
Makes me believe my soul can never cease. 
The temples perish, but the God still lives. [when 

Festus. It is therefore that I love thee ; for that 
The fiery perfection of the world. 
The sun, shall be a shadow and burnt out. 
There is an impulse to eternity 
Raised by this moment's love. 

Student. I pray it may ! 

Time is the crescent shape to bounded eye 
Of what is ever perfect unto God. 
The bosom heaves to Heaven and to the stars ; 
Our very hearts throb upwards, our eyes look ; 
Our aspirations always are divine : 
Yet is it in the gloom of soul we see 
Most of the God about us, as at night. 
For then the soul, like the mother-maid of Christ, 
Is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit ; 



260 FESTUS. 

And in creative darkness doth conceive 
Its humanized Divmitj of life. [no less 

Festus. Think then God shews his face to us 
In spiritual darkness than in light. [of him. 

Helen. But of thj friend? I would hear more 
Perhaps much happiness in friendship made 
Amends for his love's sorrows. 

Festus. ' Ask me not. 

Helen. But loved he never after ? Came there 
none 
To roll the stone from liis sepulchral heart, 
And sit in it an angel ? 

Festus. Ah, my life ! 

My more than life, my immortality ! 
Both man and womankind belie their nature 
When tliey are not kind : and tliy words are kind, 
And beautiful, and loving like thyself; 
Thine eye and thy tongue's tone, and all that speak 
Thy soul, are like it. There's a something in 
The shape of harps as though they had been made 
By music : beauty 's the effect of soul. 
And he of whom thou askest loved again. 
Could'st thou have loved one who was urdike men ? 
"Whose heart was wrinkled long before his brow ? 
Who would have cursed himself if he had dared 
Tempt God to ratify his curse in fire : 
And yet with whom to look on beauty was 
A need, a thirst, a passion ? 

Helen. Yes, I think 

I could have loved him : but, no — not unless 
He was like thee ; unless he had been thee. 
Tell me, what was it rendered him so wretched 
At heart ? 

Festus. I will not tell thee. 

Student. But tell me 



FESTUS. 2G1 

How and on what he wrote, this friend of tliine ? 
.Festus. Love, mu-th, woe, pleasure, was in turn 
his theme. 
And the great good which beauty does the soul ; 
And the God-made necessity of tilings. 
And like that noble knight in olden tale. 
Who changed his armour's hue at each fresh charge 
By virtue of his lady-love's strange ring, 
So that none knew him save his private page 
And she who cried, God save him, every time 
He bi'ake spears with the brave till he quelled all — 
So he applied him to all themes that came ; 
Loving the most to breast the rapid deej^s 
Where others had been drowned, and heedin2 

nought 
Wliere danger might not fill the place of fame. 
And 'mid the magic circle of those sounds. 
His lyre rayed out, spell-bound himself he stood, 
Like a stilled storm. It is no task for suns 
To shine. He knew himself a bard ordained. 
More than inspired, of God, inspirited : — 
Makino: liimself like an electric rod 
A lure for lightning feelings ; and liis words 
Felt like the things that fall in thunder, which 
The mind, when in a dark, hot, cloudful state, 
Doth make metallic, meteoric, ball like. 
He spake to spirits with a spirit tongue, 
AVho came compelled by wizard word of truth, 
And rayed them round him from the ends of Heaveru 
For as be all bards he was born^ of beauty. 
And with a natural fitness to draw down 
All tones and shades of beauty to his soul. 
Even as the rainbow-tinted shell, which lies 
jNIiles deep at bottom of the sea, hath all 
Colours of skies and floAvers, and gems, and plumes, 



262 FESTUS. 

Ajid all by Nature which doth reproduce 

Like loveliness in seeming opposites. 

Our life is like the wizard's charmed ring : 

Death's heads, and loathsome things fill up the 

ground ; 
But spirits wing about, and wait on us, 
While yet the hour of enchantment is. 
And while we keep in, we are safe, and can 
Force them to do our bidding. And he raised 
The rebel in himself, and in his mind 
Walked with him through the world. 

Student. He wrote of this ? 

Festus. He wrote a poem. 

Student. "What was said of it ? 

Festus. Oh, much was said — much more than 
understood ; 
One said that he was mad ; another, wise ; 
Another, wisely mad. The book is there. 
Judge thou among them. 

Student. "Well, but, 'who said what ? 

Festus. Some said that he blasphemed ; and these 
men lied 
To all eternity, unless such men 
Be saved, when God shall rase that lie from life, 
And from His own eternal memory : 
But still the word is lied ; though it were writ 
In honeydew upon a lily leaf. 
With quill of nightingale, like love letters 
From Oberon sent to the bright Titania, 
Fairest of all the fay^ — for that he used 
The name of God as spirits use it, barely, 
Yet surely more sublime in nakedness. 
Statuelike, than in a whole tongue of dress. 
Thou knowest, God ! that to the full of w^orship 
All things are worship-full ; and Thy great name, 



FESTUS. 263 

In all its awful brevity, liath nought 

Unholj breeding in it, but doth bless 

Rather the tongue that utters it; for me, 

I ask no higher office than to fling 

My spirit at Thy feet, and cry Thy name 

God ! through eternity. The man who sees 

Irreverence in that name, must have been used 

To take that name in vain, and the same man 

Would see obscenity in pure white statues. 

Call all things by then* names. Hell, call thou hell ; 

Archangel, call archangel; and God, God. 

Student. And what said he of such ? 

Festus. He held his peace 

A season, as a tree its sap till spring. 
Preparing to unfold itself, and let 
All rigor do its w^orst, which only served 
To harden him, though nothing nesh at first. 
And then he said at last, what, at the first, 
He deemed would have been seen by other men, 
By men, at least, above low^-water mark, 
Who take it, they lead others ; that it is they 
Who set their shoulders to the stalled world's wheel, 
And give it a hitch forwards. 

Helen. There were some 

Encouraged him wdth goodwill, surely ? 

Festus. Many. 

The kind, the noble, aud the able cheered him ; 
The lovely, likewise : others knew he nought of. 
And yet he loved not praise, nor sighed for fame. 
Men's praise begets an awe of one's own self 
Within us, till we fear our heart, lest it, 
Magician-like, shew more than we can bear. 
Kor was he fameless ; but obscurity 
Hath many a sacred use. The clouds which hide 
The mental mountains rising nighest Heaven, 



264 FESTUS. 

Ar3 full of finest lightning, and a breath 
Can give those gathered shadows fearful life, 
And launch their light in thunder o'er the world. 

Student. And thought he well of that he wrote? 

Festus. Perchance. 

Perchance Ave suffer, and perchance succeed. 
Perchance he would his tongue had j^erished ere 
It uttered half he said, from childhood up 
To manhood, and so on ; for much I heard 
From him required expiation, much 
Soul sacrifice and penance for heart-deeds 
"Which passion had accomplished; yea, perchance, 
He wished, how vain ! that fruitful heart and breast 
Had withered like a witch's ere he had trahied 
The parasites of feeling that he did 
About it ; and perchance, for all I know. 
He would his brain had died ere it conceived 
One half the thought-seeds that took life in it. 
And in his soul's dark sanctuary dwelt. 
Yet his blue eye's dark ball grew greater with 
Dehght, and darker, as he viewed tlie things 
He made ; not monsters outside of the fane. 
Grinning and howling, but seraphic forms — 
Embodied thoughts of worship, wisdom, love, 
Joinmg their fire-tipped wings across the shrine 
Where his heart's relics lay, and where were wrought 
Immortal miracles upon men's minds. [standest, 

Student. Take up the book, and, if thou under- 
Unfold it to me. 

Festus. What I can, I will. 

Well I remember me of thee, poor book ! 
But there is consolation e'en for thee. 
Fair hands have turned thee over, and bright eyes 
Sprinkled their sparkles o'er thee with their prayers. 
The poet's pen is the true divining rod 



J 



FESTUS. 265 

Which trembles towards the inner founts of feeling ; 

Bringing to light and use, else hid from, all, 

The many sweet clear sources which we have 

Of good and beauty in our own deep bosoms ; 

And marks the variations of all mind 

As does the needle an air-investing storm's. 

Student. How does the book begin, go on and 
end ? 

Fest c\3. It has a plan, but no plot. Life hath none. 

Helen. Tell us, love ; we will listen and not speak. 
I wish I understood it, for I know 
You would rather hear me than yourselves talk. 

Student, Surely. 

I 'd give up half the organs in my head, 
Besides all undiscovered faculties. 
To list to such a lecturer ; and then 
Have quite enough, perhaps, to comprehend. 

Helen. 'Twere needless that, to one half-witted 
now. [seen 

Festus. There is a porch, wherefrom is something 
Of the main dome beyond. Though shadows cross 
Each other's path, yet let us go through it. 
And lo ! an opening scene in Heaven, wherein 
The foredoom of all things, spirit and matter. 
Is shewn, and the permission of temptation ; 
The angelic worship of tlie Trmity, 
By God's name uttered thrice ; the joys and powers 
Of souls o'erblest, and the sweet offices 
Of warden-angel told ; and the complete 
Well-fixed necessity and end of all things. 
From Heaven we come to* earth, and so do souls. 
For next succeeds a soft and sunset scene, 
Wlierein is shown the collapsed, empty state 
In which all worldly pleasures leave us ; youth's 
Though natural, fitful, unavailing, struggle 



266 FESTUS. 

Against a great temptation come unlocked for : 

And that to sin is to curse God in deed. 

The soul long used to truth still keeps its strength, 

Though plunged upon a sudden mid the false ; 

As hands, thrust into a dark room, retain 

Their sunlent light a season. So with this. 

The lines have under meanings, and the scene 

Of self-forgetfulness and indecision 

Breaks off, not ends. A starry, stirless night 

Follows, which shadows out youth's barren longings 

For goodness, greatness, marvels, mysteries. 

"Whence comes this di'eam of immortality. 

And the resurgent essence ? Let us think ! 

"Wliat mean we by the dead ? The dead have life, 

The changed ; and, if they come, it is to show 

Their change is for the better. The bait takes. 

Man and his foe shake hands upon their bargain. 

The youth sets out for joy, and 'neath the care 

Of his good enemy, begins his course. 

The next scene seems to promise fair ; for sure 

If that there be one scene in life, wherefrom 

Evil is absent, it is pure early love. [tue 

Helen. Alas ! when beauty pleads the cause of vir- 
The chief temptation to embrace it's wanting, 

Festus. a man in love sees wonders. But not 
love 
Makes the soul happy: so the youth gets hopeless. 
To this comes on a stern and stormy quarrel 
'Tween the two foe friends — Youth demanding what 
Cannot be ; and the other withholding safe 
And easy grants. They part and meet, as though 
Nothing had happened, in the next scene : none 
Know how we reconcile ourselves to evil. 
But there they are, together, aiding each 
The other, and abusing others. 



FESTUS. ' 267 

Helen. I 

Was waiting for an eloquential pause 
In this mysterious, allegorical, 
Mythical, theological, odd story. 
So now, then, I shall ask myself to sing ; 
And granting I agree to my request, 
I think you ought to thank me. 

Student. That we will. 

But not just now. 

Helen. Oh ! yes, now ; yes, this moment. 
I 'm in the humour. 

Student. We are not. 

Festus. Yes, let her ! 

Helen. What shall I sing ? 

Festus. Sing something merry, love. 

Helen. I won't : I '11 sing the dullest thing I know ; 
One of thine own songs. 

Student. T\1iat a compliment ! 

Festus. Smg what thou lik 'st, then. 

Helen. No ; what thou lik 'st. 

Student. Well, 

Somethmg about love, and it can't be wrong. 
For love the sunny world supplies 
With laughing lips and happy eyes. 

Festus. And 'twill be sooner over. 

Student. And so better. 

Helen. Like an island in a river. 

Art thou, my love, to me ; 
And I journey by thee ever 

With a gentle ecstasie. 
I arise to fall before thee ; 

I come to kiss thy feet ; 
To adorn thee and adore thee, 

JMine only one ! my sweet ! 



268 FESTUS. 

And tliy love hath power upon me, 

Like a dream upon a brain ; 
For the loveliness wliicli won me, 

With the love, too, doth remain. 
And my Hfe it beautifieth, 

Though love be but a shade, 
Known of only ere it dieth. 

By the darkness it hath made. 

"Was that addressed to me ? 

Student. Well, now resume. 

Festus. Trial alone of ill and folly gives 
Clear proofs of the world's vanities ; but little 
Good comes of sermons, prophecies, or warnings. 
Though from the steps of an old grey market-cross, 
The Devil is holdhig forth to the faithless. There 
A social prayer is offered up, too. This 
Is followed by a bird's-eye view of earth, 
A stirring-up of the dust of all the nations. 
Then comes a village feast ; a kind of home 
Unto the traveller — where, with the world, 
We mix in private, talking divers things ; 
A country merry-making, where all speak 
According to their sorts, and the occasion. 
Deeper than ever leadline went, behold 
We search the rayless central sun within. 
We penetrate all mysteries, but are 
Unfitted long to dwell in the recess 
Of our own nature, and we long for light. 
True aspiration riseth from research. 
Next, by the o'erthrown altar of a fane. 
Foundation-shattered, like the ripened heart, 
We find ourselves in worship. Let us hope 
The spirit, form, and offering, grateful all. 
Tn one of Earth's head cities, after this, 



FESTUS. 269 

We tower-like rise, and witli an eminent eye 
Glance round society, insatiate ; — 
The high unknown as yet unrealized. 
In less time than the twinkling of a star, 
Insphered in air, the arch-fiend and the youth, 
Like twilight and midnight, discourse and rise. 
Thence to another planet, for the book, 
Stream-like, doth steal the images of stars, 
And trembles at its boldness, where we meet 
The spirit of the first night of temptation ; 
And mix with many of those lofty musings 
AVliich soAv in us the seeds of higher kind 
And brighter being. Heavenly poesie, 
Which shines among the powers of our mind, 
As that bright star she dwells in, mid the worlds 
Which make the. system of the sun, is there too. 
But these high things are lost, and drowned, and 

dimmed. 
Like a blue eye in tears, that trickle from it 
Like angels leaving Heaven on their errands 
Of love, behind them, in the scene succeeding ; — 
A scene of song, and dance, and mirth, and wine, 
And damsels, in whose lily skin the blue 
Veins branch themselves in hidden luxury, 
Hues of the heaven they seem to have vanished from. 

Helen. Moonlight and music, and kisses, and 
wine. 
And beauty, which must be, for rhyme-sake, divine. 

Festus. Mere joys ; but saddened and sublimed 
at close 
By sweet remembrance of immortal ones 
Once loved, aye hallowed. Still, in scenes like thi3, 
Youth lingers longest, drawing out his time 
As a gold-beater does his wire, until 
'Twould reach round the earth. 



270 FESTUS. 

Student. And be of no use tlien. 

Festus. Blame not the bard for showing this, 
but mind 
He wrote of youth as passionate genius, 
Its flights and follies — both its sensual ends 
And common places. To behold an eagle 
Batting the sunny ceiling of the world 
With his dark wings, one well might deem his heart 
On heaven ; but, no ! it is fixed on flesh and blood, 
And soon his talons tell it. Pass we on ! 
A brief and solemn parley o'er a grave 
Follows, in which youth vows to trust in God, 
Be the end what it may. A prescient view 
Of Avliat is true repentance to the soul, 
Spirit-informed, expands ; and over all 
The spiritual harmonies of Heaven 
By the raised soul are heard, and God's great rule 
To creatures justified. And next we find 
Ourselves in Heaven. Even man's deadly life 
Can be there, by God's leave. Once brought to 

God, ^ 

The soul's foredoom is set before it brightly, ^H 

And Heaven's designs are seen to be brought to bear. 
A lightning revelation of the Heavens, 
And what is in them. Let it not be said 
He sought his God in the self-slayer's way, 
"Wliose highest aim was but to worship in 
All humbleness ; for he was called thereto, 
To show the holy God, in three scenes, first 
And last in Threelihood, and midst in One : 
Although less hard to shape the wide-winged wind 
O'er the bright heights of air. He will forgive : 
For we, this moment, and all living souls — 
All matter, are as much within his presence, 
And known throu^jh, like a irlass film in the sun, 



•I 



FESTUS. 271 

As we can ever be. Through sundry worlds 

The mortal wends, returning, and relates 

To her he loves — and joyously, they greet, 

As boat by breeze and billow backed by tide — 

His bright experience of celestial homes ; 

Where spiritual natures, kind and high, 

Light-born, which can divine immortal things, 

Abide embosomed in Eternity. 

Something he tells, too, of the friendly fiend, 

Something of ancient ages, infant Earth. 

To this succeeds a scene explaining much. 

Of retrospective and prospective cast. 

Between the bard his beauty and his friend. 

Our story ties us here to earth again, 

And sea all aged. Evil is in love ; 

And ever those Avho are unhappiest have 

Their hearts' desire the oftenest, but in dreams. 

Dreams are mind-clouds, high and unshapen beauties, 

Or but God-shaped, like mountains, which contain 

Much and rich matter ; often not for us. 

But for another. Dreams are rudiments 

Of the great state to come. We dream what is 

About to happen to us. 

Helen. What may be 

The dream in this case ? 

Festus. It is one of death. 

Helen. Of death ! is that all ? Well, I too have 
had. 
What every one hath once, at least, in life — 
A vision of the region of the dead ; 
It was the land of shadows : yea, the land 
Itself was but a shadow, and the race 
Which seemed therein were voices, forms of forms, 
And echoes of themselves. And there was nought, 



272 FESTUS. 

Of substance seemed, save one thing in the midst, 

A great red sepulchre — a granite grave ; 

And at the bottom lay a skeleton, 

From whose decaying jaws the shades were born; 

Making its only sign of life, its dying 

Continually. Some were bright, some dark. 

Those that were bright, went upwards heavenly. 

They which were dark, grew darker and remained. 

A land of change, yet did the half things nothing 

That I could see ; but passed stilly on. 

Taking no note of other, mate or child ; 

For all had lost their love when they put off 

The beauty of the body. And as I 

Looked on, the grave before me backed away ; 

And I began to dream it was a dream ; 

And I rushed after it : when the earth quaked, 

Opened and shut, like the eye of one in fits ; 

It shut to with a shout. The grave was gone. 

And in the stead there stood a gleedlike throne, 

Which all the shadows shook to see, and swooned ; 

For fiends were standing, loaded with long chains, 

The links whereof were fire, waiting the word 

To bind and cast the shadows into hell ; 

For Death the second sat upon that throne, 

"Wliich set on fire the air not to be breathed. 

And as he lifted up his arm to speak, 

Fear preyed upon all souls, like fire on paper. 

And mine among the rest, and I awoke. 

Student. By Hades, 'twas most awful. 

Festus. And when love 

Merges in creature-worship, let us mind : 
We know not what it is we love : perhaps 
It is incarnate evil. In the time 
It takes to turn a leaf, we are in Heaven ; 
IMaking our way among the wheeling worlds, 



FESTUS. 273 

Millions of suns, half infinite each, and space 
For ever shone into, for ever dark, 
As God is, to and by created mind, 
Upheld by the companion spirit. There 
The nature of the all in one, and whence 
Evil ; the fixed impossibility 
Of creatures' perfectness, until made one 
With God ; and the necessity of ill 
As yet, are things all touched upon and proven. 
The next scene shows us hell, in the mad mock 
Of mortal revelry — the quelling truth 
That all life's sinful follies run to hell ; 
That lies, debauches, murders never die, 
But live in hell forever ; make, are hell. 
And truth is there too. Hell is its own moral. 
Perdition certain to the unrepentant ; 
Redemption on a like scale with creation ; 
And all creation needing it and having. 
"VVliat follows is of earth, and setteth forth 
God's mercy, and the mystery of sin ; 
And a great gathering of the worlds round God, 
Told by the youtli to his truthful, trustful, love ; 
"Who, light and lowly as a little glow-worm, 
Sheddeth her beauty round lier like a rose 
Sweet smelling dew upon the ground it grows on. 
And then a rest in light, as though 'tween earth 
And Heaven there were a mediate spirit point, 
A bright effect original of God, 
Enlightening all ways, inwardly and round. 
Then comes a scene of passion, brought about 
By the bad spirit's means for his own ends, 
"Whom we know not when come, so dark we grow ; 
Making it but a blind for the next scene. 
Laid by the lonely seashore, as before, 
Wliere the great waves come in frothed, like a horse 
18 



274 FESTUS. 

Put to his heart-burst speed, sobbing up hill, 

Wherein he works his victim's death, to clear 

His way, and keep his name of murderer ; 

As he in other parts makes good his titles, 

Deceiver, liar, tempter, and accuser ; 

Hater of man, and, most of all, of God. 

In the next scene we picture back our life. 

Contrasting the pure joys of earlier years, 

"With the unsatedness of current sin ; 

And the sad feel that love's own heart turns sick 

Like a bad pearl ; but that the feeling still 

Is adamantine, though the splendid thing 

Whereon it writes its record, is of all 

Frailest ; and though earth shows to good and bad, 

The same blind kindness, beautiful to see, 

Wherewith our lovely mother loveth us. 

The world in vain unbosometh her beauty, 

We have no lust to live ; for things may be 

Corrupted into beauty ; and that love. 

Where all the passions blend, as hues in white, 

Tires at the last, as day would, if all day 

And no night. So despair of heart increases. 

The last lure — power — is proffered, taken. All 

Hangs on the last desire, whatever it be. 

A scene of prescient solitude and soul 

Commune with heaven, repentance, prayer, faith. 

Which are all things inspired alone of God, 

Who signifies salvation, follows this. 

In the next scene, we feel the end draw nigh. 

A change is wrought on earth as great as that 

In its first ages, when the elements 

Less gross and palpable than air, were changed 

To mountainous and adamantine mass. 

Now 'neath the feet of nations ; — figuring forth 

The fateful mind which is to govern all, 



I 



1 



FESTUS. 275 

Controlling tlie great evil ; for it is mind 
"Which shall rule and be ruled, and not the body, 
In the last age of human sway on earth ; — 
Ambition ruined by its OAvn success ; 
Aims lost, power useless : love, pure love, the last 
Of mortal things that nestles in the heart. [death, 
There is a love wliich acts to death, and through 
And may come white, and bright and pure, like 

paper, 
From refuse, or from clearest things at first ; 
It ig beyond the accidents of life. 
For things we make no compt of, have in them 
The seeds of life, use, beauty, like the cores 
Of apples that we fling away ; — nought now 
Is left but trust in God, who tries the heart 
And saves it, at the last, from its own ruin — 
The parting spirit fluttering like a flag, 
Half from its earthy staff. The death-change comes. 
Death is another life. We bow our heads 
At going out, we think, and enter straight 
Another golden chamber of the king's. 
Larger than this we leave, cmd lovelier. 
And then in shadowy glimpses, disconnect. 
The story, flower like, closes thus its leaves. 
The "will of God is all in all. He makes. 
Destroys, remakes, for His own pleasure, all. 
After inferior nature is subdued, • 

The evil is confined. All elements 
Conglobe themselves from chaos, purified. 
The rebesfotten world is born a^rain. 
The body and the soul cease ; spirit lives : 
And gloriously falsified are all 
Earth's caverned prophecies of bodyhood. 
Spirits rise up and rule and link with Heaven ; — 
Tlie soul state is searched into; dormant Death, 



276 FESTUS. 

Evil, and all the dark gods of the heart, 
And the idolatrous passions, ruined, chained, 
And worshipless, are seen ; and there, the Word, 
Heard and obeyed ; — next comes the truth di\'iiie, 
Redintergrative ; Evil's last and worst. 
Endeavour, vanquished — by Almighty good. 
The last scene shew3 the final doom of earth, 
Soul's judgment, and salvation of the youth, 
As was fore-fixed on from and in the first: 
The universe expurgated of evil. 
And hell for aye abolished ; all create, 
Redeemed, their God all love, themselves all bliss. 
We may say that the sun is dead and gone 
For ever ; and may swear he will rise no more ; 
The skies may put on mourning for their God, 
And earth heap ashes on her head : but who 
Shall keep the sun back, when he thinks to rise ? 
Where is the chain shall bind him ? Where the cell 
Shall hold him ? Hell, he would burn down to 

embers ; 
And would lift up the world with a lever of light 
Out of his way : yet, know ye, 'twere thrice less 
To do thrice this, than keep the soul from God. 
O'er earth, and cloud, and sky, and star, and Heaven, 
It dwells with God uprisen as a praj'er. 
The spirit speaks of God in Heaven's own tongue, 
No my^ery to those who love, but learned. 
As is our mother tongue, from Him, the parent; 
By whom created, fashioned, flesh and spirit, 
All forms and feelings of all kinds of beauty 
Are burned into our heart-clay, pattern like. 
Much too is writ, elsewhere and here, not yet, 
IMade clear, nor can be till earth come of age ; 
Like the unfinished rudiments of light 
TMiich gather time by time into a star. 



FESTUS. 27 ^ 

Thus have I shown tlic meaniDg of the book, 

And the most truthful likeness of a mind, 

Which hath as yet been limned ; the mind of youth 

In strengths and failings, in its overcomings, 

And in its short comings ; the kingly ends, 

The universalizing heart of youth ; 

Its love of power, heed not how had, although 

With surety of self-ruin at the end. 

Every thing urged against it proves its truth 

And faithfulness to nature. Some cried out 

'Twas inconsistent ; so 'twas meant to be. 

Such is the very stamp of youth and nature ; 

And the continual losing sight of its aims. 

And the desertion of its most expressed 

And dearest rules and objects, this is youth. 

Student. I look on Hfe as keeping me from God, 
Stars, Heaven, and angels' bosoms. I lay ill ; 
And the dark hot blood, throbbing through and 

through me ; 
They bled me and I swooned ; and as I died, 
Or seemed to die, a soft, sweet sadness fell 
With a voluptuous weakness, on my soul, 
That made me feel all happy. But my heart 
Would live, and rose, and wrestled with the soul, 
AYliich stretched its wings and strained its strength in 
Twining around it as a snake an eagle. [vain, 

]My eyes unclosed again, and I looked up, 
And saw the sweet blue twilight, and one star. 
One only star, in Heaven ; and then I wished 
That I had died and gone to it ; and straight 
Was glad I lived again, lo love once more. 
And so our souls turn round upon themselves 
Like orbs upon their axles : what was night 
■ Is day ; what day, night. God will guide us on. 
Body and soul, through life and death, to judgment. 



278 FESTUS. 

Festus. Earth hath her deserts mixed with fruit- 
ful plains ; 
The word of God is barren in some parts ; 
A rose is not all flower, but hath much 
Which is of lower beauty, yet like needful ; 
And he who in great makings doth like these, 
Doth only that which is most natural. 
Like life too it is boundlessly unequal, 
Now soaring, and now grovelling : at one time 
All harmony, and then again all harshness. 
With an ever-changing style of thought and speech. 
The work is still consistent with itself: 
As one part often bears upon another, 
Liftinsj it to the lisrht, where most it needs. 
The thoughts we have of men are bold as men ; 
Our thoughts of God are thin and fleet as ghosts ; 
But it was not his meaning to draw men. 
Such as he heard they were in the old world 
And sometimes mixed with ; he blessed God he knew 
But little of the world, that little good ; 
While some sighed out that little was its all. 
So for the persons and the scenes he drew. 
Oft in a dim and dreamy imagery 
Shapen, half-shapen, mis-shapen, unshapen. 
They are the shadowy creatures which youth dreams 
Live in the world embodied, but are not, 
Save in the mind's, which is the mightier one. 
They are the names of things which we beheve in, 
Ideas not embodied, alas, not ! 
And the sad fate which many of those meet 
Whom the youth loves and quits, means nought so ill 
As the betrayer's sin, salvationless 
Almost : it is but desertion, not betrayal ; 
And forced on him according to a promise. 
Made at the first unto him, and to be 



FESTUS. 279 

Wrought out in brief time ; and the same fair souls 

Saved, stand for our desires made pure in Heaven. 

Let us work out our natures ; we can do 

No wrong in them, they are divine, eterne : 

I follow my attraction, and obey 

Nature, as earth does, circUng round her source 

Of life and light, and keeping true in Heaven, 

Though not perfect in round, which nothing is. 

'Twas the heart-book of love, well nigh all grief. 

For the heart leaves its likeness best in that 

O'erwhelming sorrow which burns up and buries, 

Like to the eloquent impression left 

Li lava, of Pompeian maiden's bosom. 

All passions, and all pleasures, and all powers 

Of man's heart, are brought in, and mind and frame. 

He made this work the business of his life ; 

It was his mission ; and was laid on him. 

He was a labourer on the ways of God, 

And had his hire in peace and power to work. 

He wrote it not in the contempt of rule. 

And not in hate ; but in the self made rule 

That there was none to him, but to himself 

He was his sole rule, and had right to be. 

The faults are faults of nature, and prove art 

Man's nature, that a thing of art, like it, 

Should be so pure in kind. 

Helen. I do believe 

The world is a forged thing, and hath not got 
The die of God upon it. It will not pass 
In Heaven, I tell ye. 

Student. How shouldst thou know aught 

Of Heaven, unless by contrast ? 

Festus. Pray now cease ; 

Ye two are jarring ever, though as with 
The bickering beauty of two swords, whose strife, 



280 FESTUS. 

Tliougli deadly, maketli music, I could listen, 
Did not each stab, whichever way, pain me. 

Helen. Oh, I could stand and rend myself with 
To think I am so weak, that all are so ; [rage 

Mere minims m the music made from us — 
AVhile I would be a hand to sweep from end 
To end, from Infinite to infinite, 
The world's great chord. The beautiful of old 
Had but to say some god had been with them, 
And their worst fault was hallowed to their best deed. 
That was to live. Could we uproot the past, 
Whicli grows and throws its chilhng shade o*er us, 
Lengthening every hour and darkening it ; 
Or could we plant the future where we would. 
And make it flourish, that, too, were to live. 
But it is not more true that what is, is, 
Than that what is not, is not^ It is enough 
To bear the ever present, as we do. 
The city of the past is laid in ruins ; 
Its echo-echoing walls at a whisper fall : 
The coming is not yet built ; nor as yet 
Its deep foundations laid ; but seems, at once. 
Like the air city, goodly and well watered. 
Which the dry wind doth dream of on the sands 
"Where he dies away with his wanderings : 
While we enjoy the hope thereof, and perish ; 
Not seeing that the desert present is 
Our end. 

Festus. The brightest natures oft have darkest 
End, as fire smoke. 

Student. I will read the book in the hope 

Of learning somewhat from it. 

Festus. Thou may'st learn 

A hearty thanksgiving for blessings here. 
And proud prediction of a state to come. 



FESTUS. 281 

Of love, and life, and power unlimited ; 

And uttered in a sound and homely tongue, 

Fit to be used by all who think while speaking. 

With here and there some old, hard uncouth words 

"Which have "vvithal a quaint and meaning richness, 

As stones make more the power of the soil. 

The world hath said its say for and against ; 

And after praise and blame cometh the truth. 

Living men look on all who live askance. 

"Were he a cold grey ghost, he would have honour ; 

And-though as man he must have mixed with men, 

Yet the true bard doth make himself ghost-like ; 

He lives apart from men ; he wakes and walks 

By nights ; he puts himself into the world 

Above him ; and he is what but few see. 

He knows, too, to the old hid treasure, truth : 

And the world wonders, shortly, how some one 

Hath come so rich of soul ; it little dreams 

Of the poor ghost that made him. Yet he comes 

To none save of his own blood, and lets pass 

Many a generation till his like 

Turns up ; moreover, this same genius 

Comes, ghost-like, to those only who are lonely 

In life and in desire ; never to crowds : 

And it can make its way through every thing. 

And is never happy till it tells its secret ; 

But pale and pressed down with the inward weight 

Of unborn works, it sickens nigh to death, 

Often ; but who like happy at a birth ? 

Student. Say what a poet ought to do and be. 

Festus. Though it may scarce become me, 
knowing little. 
Yet what I have thought out upon that theme, 
And deem true, I will tell thee. 

Helen. Now I know 



282 FESTUS. 

You two will talk of nothing else all night ; 
So I will to my music. Sweet ! I come. 
Art thou not glad to see me ? What a time 
Since I have touched thine eloquent white fingers. 
Hast thou forgot me ? Mind, now ? Know'st thou 

not 
My greeting ? Ah ! I love thee. Talk away ! 
Never mind me ; I shall not you. 

Student. Agreed ! 

Helen. By the sweet muse of music, I could swear 
I do believe it smiles upon me ; see it 
Full of unuttered music, like a bird ; 
Rich in invisible treasures, like a bud 
Of unborn sweets, and thick about the heart 
With ripe and rosy beauty — full to trembling. 
I love it like a sister. Hark ! — its tones ; 
They melt the soul within* one like a sword, 
Albeit sheathed, by hghtning. Talk to me. 
Lovely one ! Answer me, thou beauty ! 

Student. Hear her ! 

Festus. Experience and imagination are 
Mother and sire of song — the harp and hand. 
The bard's aim is to give us thoughts : his art 
Lieth in giving them as bright as may be. 
And even when their looks are earthj^, still 
If opened, like geoids, they may be found 
Full of all sparkling sparry loveliness. 
They should be wrought, not cast ; like tempered steel, 
Burned and cooled, burned again, and cooled again. 
A thought is like a ray of light — complex 
In nature, simple only in effect. 
Words are the motes of thought, and nothing more. 
Words are like sea-shells on the shore ; they show 
Where the mind ends, and not how far it has been. 
Let every thought, too, soldier-like, be stripped, 



FESTUS. 283 

And roughly looked over. The dress of words, 
Like to the Roman girl's enticing garb, 
Should let the play of limb be seen through it, 
And the round rising form. A mist of words. 
Like halos round the moon, though they enlarge 
The seeming size of thoughts, make the light less 
Doubly. It is the thought writ down we want. 
Not its effect — not likenesses of likenesses. 
And such descriptions are not, more than gloves 
Instead of hands to shake, enough for us, 

SjUDENT. But is the power — is poesie inborn. 
Or is it to be gained by art or toil ? [where 

Festus. It is underived, except from God ; but 
Strongest, asks most of human care and aid. 
Great bards toil much and most ; but most at first, 
Ere they can learn to concentrate the soul 
For hours upon a thought to carry it. [moved, 

Student. Why I have sat for hours and never 
Saving my hands, clock-like, in writing round 
Day after day of thought, and lapse of life. 

Festus. Many make books, few poems, whic^ 
may do 
"Well for their gains, but they do nought for truth, 
Nor man, true bard's main aim. Perish the books, 
But the creations live. Some steal a thought, 
And clip it round the edge, and challenge him 
Whose 't was to swear to it. To serve things thus 
Is as foul witches to cut up old moons 
Into new stars. Some never rise above 
A pretty fault, like faulty dahlias ; 
And of whose best things it is kindly said. 
The thought is fair ; but, to be perfect, wants 
A little heightening, like a pretty face 
With a low forehead. Do thou more than sucli 
Or else do nothing. And in poetry. 



2S4 FESTUS. 

There is a poet-worsliip, one of other 
"Which is idolatry, and not the true 
Love-service of the soul to God, Avhich hath 
Alone of His inbreathing, and is rendered 
Unto Him, from the first, without yian's mean, 
By those whom He makes worthy of His worship ; 
Who kneel at once to Him, and at no shrine, 
Save in the world's wide ear, do they confess them 
Of faults which are all truths ; and through which ear, 
As the world says them over to itself, 
He heareth and absolveth ; for the bard 
Speaks but what all feel more or less within 
The heart's heart, and the sin confessed is done 
Away with and for ever. 

Student. What of style? 

Festus. There is no style is good but nature's 
style. 
And the great ancients' writings, beside ours, 
Look like illuminated manuscripts 
Before plain press print ; all had different minds. 
And followed only their own bents : for this 
Nor copied that, nor that the other ; each 
Is finished in his writing, each is best 
For his own mind, and that it Avas upon ; 
And all have lived, ai'e living, and shall live ; 
But these have died, are dying, and shall die ; 
Yea, copyists shall die, spark out and out. 
Minds Avhich combine and make alone can tell 
The bearings and the workings of all things 
In and upon each other. All the pai*ts 
Of nature meet and fit : wit, wisdom, worth, 
Goodness and greatness ; to sublimity 
Beauty arises, like a planet world. 
Labouring slowly, seemingly, up Heaven ; 
But with an infinite pace to some immortal eyes. 



1 



FESTUS. 285 

And he who means to be a great bard, must 

Measure liimself against pure mind, and fling 

His soul into a stream of thought, as will 

A swimmer hurl himself into the water. 

But never swimmer on the stream, nor bird 

On w^ind, feels half so strong, or swift, or glad, 

As bard borne high on his mind above himself; 

As though he should begin a lay like this. 

Where spiritual element is all ; 

Thought chafing thought, as bough bough, till all bum, 

Like the star-written j^rophecies of Heaven. 

The shattered shadow of eternity 

Upon the troubled world, even as the sun 

Shows brokenly on Avavy waters, time ; 

All time is but a second to the dead. 

The smoke of the great burning of the world 

Had trailed across the skies for many an age, 

And was fast wearing into air away, 

When a saint stood before the throne, and cried — 

Blessed be Thou, Lord God of all the worlds 

That have been, and that are, and are to be ! 

For Thy destruction is like infinite 

With Thy creation, just and wise in both: 

Give me a world ; and God said. Be it so : 

And the world was : and then go on to show 

How this new orb wao made, and where it shone ; 

Who ruled, abode, worshipped and loved therein ; 

Their natures, duties, hopes : let it be pure, 

Wise, holy, beautiful ; if not to be 

Without it, made so by constraint of God — 

Kindly forced good : we have had enough of sin 

And folly here to wish for and love change. 

Let him show God as going thither mildly, 

Father-like, blessing all and cursing none ; 

And that there never will be need for them 



286 FESTUS. 

That He shall come in glory new to Himself, 
With light to Avliich the lightning shall be shadow, 
And the sun sadness ; borne upon a car 
With wlieels of burning worlds, within whose rims 
Whole hells burn, and beneath whose course the 

stars 
Dry up like dew-drops. But of this enough ; 
I mean that he must weigh himself as he 
Will be weighed after by posterity ; 
After us all are critics, to a man. 
Write to the mind and heart, and let the ear 
Glean after what it can. The voice of great 
Or graceful thoughts is sweeter far than all 
AV^ord-music ; and great thoughts, like great deeds, 

need 
No trumpet. Never be in haste in writing. 
Let that thou utterest be of nature's flow, 
Not art's ; a fountain's, not a pump's. But once 
. Begun, work thou all things into thy work ; 
And set thyself about it, as the sea 
About earth, lashing at it day and night. 
And leave the stamp of thine own soul in it 
As thorough as the fossil flower in clay. 
The theme shall start and struggle in thy breast. 
Like to a spmt in its tomb at rising, 
Rending the stones, and crying. Resurrection ! 

Student. What theme remains ? 

Festus. Thyself, thy race, thy love, 

The faithless and the full of faith in God ; 
Thy race's destiny, thy sacred love. 
Every believer is God's miracle. 
Nothing will stand whose staple is not love ; 
The love of God, or man, or lovely woman ; 
The first is scarely touched, the next scarce felt, 
The tliird is desecrated ; lift it ujd ; 



FESTUS. 287 

Redeem it, hallow it, blend the three in one 

Great holj work. It shall be read in Heaven 

By all the saved of sinners of all time ; 

Preachers shall point to it, and tell their wards 

It is a handful of eternal truth ; 

Make ye a heartful of it : men shall will 

That it be buried with them in their hands : 

The young, the gay, the innocent, the brave, 

The fair, with soul and body both all love, 

Shall run to it with joy ; and the old man. 

Still hearty in decline, whose happy life 

Hath blossomed downwards, like the purple bell-flower. 

Closing the book, shall utter lowlily — , 

Death, thou art infinite, it is life is little. 

Believe thou art inspired, and thou art. 

Look at the bard and others ; never heed 

The petty hints of envy. If a fault 

It be in bard to deem himself inspired, 

'T is one which hath had many followers 

Before him. He is wont to make, unite, 

Believe ; the world to part, and doubt, and narrow. 

That he believes, he utters. What the world 

Utters, it trusts not. But the time may come 

"When all, along with those who seek to raise 

Men's minds, and have enough of pain, without 

SuiFering from envy, may be God-inspired 

To utter truth, and feel like love for men. 

Poets are henceforth the world's teachers. StiU 

The world is all in sects, which makes one loathe it. 

Student. The men of mind are mountains, and 
their heads 
Are sunned long ere the rest of earth. I would 
Be one such. 

Festus. It is well. Bum to be great. 
Pay not thy praise to lofty things alone. 



288 FESTUS. 

The plains are everlasting as the hills. 

The bard cannot have two pursuits : aught else 

Comes on the mind with the like shock as though 

Two worlds had j2;one to war and met in air. 

And now that thou hast heard thus much from one 

Not wont to seek, nor give, nor take advice, 

Remember, whatsoe'er thou art as man, 

Suffer the world, entreat it and forgive. 

Thej who forgive most shall be most forgiven. 

Dear Helen, I will tell the what I love 

Next to thee — poesie. 

Helen. Can any thing 

B'i even second to me in thy love ? 
iJoth it not distance all things ? 

Festus. To say sooth, 

I once loved many things ere I met with thee, 
My one blue break of beauty in the clouds ; 
Bending thyself to me as Heaven to earth, 

Helen. My love is like the moon, seems now to 
grow. 
And now to lessen ; but it is only so 
Because thou canst not see it all at once 
It knows nor day, nor morrow, like the sun ; 
Unchangeable as space it shall still be 
When yon bright suns, which are themselves but 

sands 
In the great glass of Time, shall be run out. 

Festus. Man is but half man without woman ; 
and 
As do idolaters their heavenless gods, 
We deify the things which we adore. 

Helen. Our life is comely as a whole ; nay, more, 
Like rich brown ringlets, with odd hairs all gold. 
We women have four seasons, like the year, 
Our spring is in our lightsome girlish days, 



II 

II 



FESTUS. 289 

When the heart laughs within us for shrcr joy ; 

Ere yet we know w^hat love is or the ill 

Of being loved by those whom we love not. 

Summer is when we love and are beloved, 

And seems short ; from its very splendour seems 

To pass the quickest ; crowned with flowers it flies. 

Autumn, when some young thing with tiny hands, 

And rosy cheeks, and flossy tendrilled locks, 

Is wantoning about us day and night. 

And winter is when these we love have perished ; 

For the heart ices then. And the next spring 

Is in another world, if one there be. 

Some miss one season, some another ; this 

Shall have them early, and that late ; and yet 

The year wear round with all as best it may. 

There is no rule for it ; but in the main 

It is as I have said. 

Festus. My life with thee 

Is like a song, and the sweet music thou. 
Which doth accompany it. 

Student. Say, did thy friend 

Write aught beside the w^ork thou tell'st of? 

Festus. Nothing. 

After that, like the burning peak, he fell 
Into himself, and was missing ever after. 

Student. If not a secret, pray who was he ? 

Festus. L 

Scene — Garden and Bower hy the Sea, 

Lucifer and Elissa. 

Lucifer. Night comes, world-jewelled, as my 
bride should be. 
The stars rush forth in myriads as to w^age 
War with the lines of Darkness ; and the moon, 
19 



290 FESTUS. 

Pale ghost of Night, comes haunting the cold earth 

After the sun's red sea-death — quietless. 

Immortal Ni2:ht ! I love thee. Thou and I 

Are of one seed — the eldest blood of God. 

He makes ; v/e mar together all things — all 

But our own selves. Love makes thee cold and 

tremble, 
And me all fire. Do off that starry robe ; 
Catch me up to thee. Let us love, and die, 
And weld our souls together, Night ! But here 
Cometh mine earthly. My Elissa ! welcome. 

Elissa. Is 't not a lovely, nay, a heavenly eve ? 

Lucifer. Thy presence only makes it so to me. 
The moments thou art with me are like stars 
Peering through my dark life. 

Elissa. Nay, speak not so, 

Or I shall weep, and thou wilt turn away 
From woman's tears : yet are they woman's wealth. 

Lucifer. Then keep thy treasures, lady ! I 
would not have 
The world, if prized at one sad tear of thine. 
One tear of beauty can outweigh a world 
Even of sin and sorrow, heavy as this ; 
But beauty cannot sin and should not weep, 
For she is mortal. Oh ! let deathless things 
Alone weep. Why should aught that dies be sad? 

Elissa. The noble mind is oft too generous, 
And, by protecting, weakens lesser ones ; 
And tears must come of feeling though they quench 
As oft the light which love lit in the eye. 

Lucifer. And thy love ever hangs about my heart 
Like the pure pearl- wreath which enrings thy brow. 
I meant not to be mournful. Tell me, now. 
How thou hast passed the hours since last we met ? 

Elissa. I have stayed the livelong day within 
this bower; 



FESTUS. 291 

It was here that thou did promise me to come — 
Watching from wanton morn to repentant eve, 
Tlie self-same roses ope and close ; untired, 
Listenino; the same birds' first and latest &on<i:s — 
And still thou earnest not. To the mind which waits 
Upon one hour the others are but slaves. 
The week hath but one day — the day one hour — 
That hour of the heart — that lord of time. 

Lucifer. Sweet one ! I raced with light and 

passed the laggard 
To mget thee — or, I mean I could have done — 
Yea, have outsped the very dart of Death — 
So much I souo;ht ; and were I livino; li<iht 
From God, with leave to range the w^orld, and 

choose 
Another brow than His whereon to beam — 
To mark what even an angel could but covet — 
A something lovelier than Heaven's loveliness — 
To thee I straio;ht would dart, unheedins:: all 
The Hves of other w^orlds, even those w^ho name 
Themselves thy kind ; for oft my mind o'ersoars 
The stars ; and pondering upon what may be 
Of their chief lording natures, man's seems worst — 
The darkest, meanest, w^iich, through all these 

worlds, 
Drags what is deathless, may be, dowTi to dust. 

Elissa. Speak not so bitterly of human kind; 
I know that thou dost love it. Hast not heard 
Of those great spirits, wdio, the greater grow, 
The better we are able them to prize ? 
Great minds can never cease ; yet have they not 
A separate estate of deathlessness : 
The future is a remnant of their life : 
Our time is part of theirs, not theirs of ours : 
Thev know^ the thou2;hts of ajjres lonfij before. 

. coo 



292 FESTUS. 

It is not the weak mind feels the great mind's might ; 
None but the great can test it. Does the oak 
Or reed feel the strong storm most ? Oh ! unsay 
What thou hast said of man ; nor deem me wrong. 
Mind cannot mind despise — it is itself. [friends; 

Mind must love mind : the great and good are 
And he is but half great who is not good. 
And, oh ! humanity is the fairest flower 
Blooming in earthly breasts ; so sweet and pure, 
That it misjht freshen even the fadeless wreaths 
Twined round the golden harps of those in Heaven. 

Lucifer. For thy sake I will love even man, or 
Spirit were I, and a mere mortal thou, [aught. 

For thy sake I would even seek to die ; 
That, dead, or living, I might still be with thee. 
But no ! I '11 deem thee deathless — mind and make, 
And worthier of some spirit's love than mine ; 
Yea, of the first-born of God's sons, could he 
In that sweet shade thy beauty casts o'er all, 
One moment lay and cool his burning soul ; 
Or midit the ark of his wide flood-like woe 
But rest upon that mount of peace and bliss — 
Thy heart inbosomed in all beauteousness. 
Nay, lady ! shrink not. Thinkest thou I am he ? ||0 

Elissa. Thou art too noble, far. I oft have wished, 
Ere I knew thee, I had some spirit's love ; 
But thou art more like what I sought than man. 
And a forbidden quest, it seems ; for thou 
Hast more of awe than love about thee, like 
The mystery of dreams which we can feel, 
But cannot touch. 

Lucifer. Nay, think not so ! It is wrong. 
Come, let us sit in this thy favourite bower, 
And I will hear thee sing. I love that voice, 
Dipping more softly on the subject ear 



FESTUS. 293 

Than that calm kiss the willow gives the wave — 
A soft rich tone, a rainbow of sweet sounds, 
Just spanning the soothed sense. Come, nay me 
not. [thine. 

Elissa. Do thou lead out some lay ; I '11 follow 
Lucifer. Well, I agree. It will spare me much 
of shame 
In coming after thee. My song is said 

Of Lucifer the star. See there he shines ! 

[^Sings, 
I am Lucifer, the star : 

Oh ! think on me, 
As I lighten from afar 

The Heavens and thee ! 
In town, or tower. 
Or this fair bower. 

Oh ! think on me ; 
Thouo;h a wanderin"; star. 
As the loveliest are, 

I love but thee. 

Lady ! "Wlien I brightest beam, 

Love ! look on me ! 
I am not what I may seem 

To the world or thee ; 
But fain would love 
With thee above. 

Where thou wilt be. 
But if love be a dream. 
As the world doth deem. 
What is 't to me ? 
Elissa. Could we but deem the stars had hearts, 
and loved, 
They would seem happier, holier, even than now ; 
And ah ! why not ? they are so beautiful ; 
And love is part and union in itself 



294 FESTUS. 

Of all that is in nature brilliant, pure — 

Of all in feeling sacred and sublime. 

Surely the stars are images of love : 

The sunbeam and the starbeam doth bring love. 

The sky, the sea, the rainbow, and the stream 

And dark blue hill, where all the loveliness 

Of earth and Heaven, in sweet extatic strife, 

Seem mingling hues which might immortal be, 

If length of life by height of beauty went : 

All seem but made for love — love made for all : 

We do become all heart with those we love : 

It is nature's self — it is everywhere — it is here. 

Lucifer. To me there is but one place in the 
world, 
And that where thou art ; for where'er I be, 
Thy love doth seek its way into my heart, 
As will a l)ird into her secret nest : 
Then sit and sing ; sweet wing of beauty, sing. 

Elissa. Bright one ! who dwellest in the happy 
Rejoicing in thy light as does the brave, [skies. 

In his keen flashing sword, and his strong arm's 
Swift swoop, canst thou from among the sons of men, 
Single out those who love thee as do I 
Thee from thy fellow glories ? If so, star. 
Turn hither thy bright front ; I love thee, friend. 
Thou hast no deeds of darkness. All thou dost 
Is to us light and beauty : yea, thou art 
A globe all glory ; thou who at the first 
Didst answer to the angels which in Heaven 
Sang the bright birth of earth, and even now. 
As star by star is born, dost sing the same 
"With countless hosts in infinite delight, 
Be unto me a moment ! Write thy bright 
Light on my heart before the sun shall rise 
And vanquish sight. Thou art the prophecy 



FESTUS. 295 

Of light which He fulfils. Speak, shining star, 

Drop from thy golden lips the truths of Heaven j 

First of all stars and favourite of the skies, 

Apostle of the sun — thou upon whom 

His mantle resteth — speak, prophetic beauty ! 

Speak, shining star out of the heights of Heaven, 

Beautiful being, speak to God for man ! 

Is it because of beauty thou wast chosen 

To be tfie sign of sin ? For surely sin 

Must be surpassing lovely when for her 

Meu forfeit God's reward of deathless bliss 

And life divme ; or, is it that such beauty, 

Sometimes, before the truth, and sometimes after, 

As is a moral or a prophecy. 

Is ever warning ? Why wast thou accorded 

To the great Evil ? Is it because thou art 

Of all the sun's bright servants nearest earth ? 

And shall we then forget that Christ hath said 

He is thyself, the light-bringer of Heaven ? 

Star of the morning ! unto us thou art 

The presage of a day of power. Like thee 

Let us rejoice in life, then, and proclaim 

A glory coming greater than our own. 

All ages are but stars to that which comes. 

Sunlike. Oh ! speak, star ! Lift thou up thy voice 

Out of yon radiant ranks, and I on earth. 

As thou in Heaven, will bless the Lord God ever. 

Hear, Lucifer, thou star ! I answer thee. [^Sincfs, 

Oh ! ask me not to look and love, 
But bid me worship thee ; 

For thou art earthly things above. 
As far as angels be : 

Then whether in the eve or morn 

Tiiou dost the maiden skies adorn, 
I Oh ! let me worship thee ! 



296 FESTUb. 

I am but as this drop of dew ; 
Oh ! let me worship thee ! 

Thy light, thy strength, is ever new, 
Even as the angels' be : 

And as this dew-drop, till it dies, 

Bosoms the golden stars and skies, 
Oh ! let me wprship thee ! 
But, dearest, why that dark look ? 

LuciFEE. Let it not 

Cloud thine even with its shadow : but the ground 
Of all great thoughts is sadness ; and I mused 
Upon past happiness. Well — be it past ! 
Did Lucifer, as I do, gaze on thee. 
The flame of woe would flicker in his breast, 
And straight die out — the brightness of thy beauty 
Quenching it as the sun doth earthly fire. 

Elissa. Nay, look not on me so intensely sad. 
Lucifer. Forgive me : it was an agony of bliss, 
I love thee, and am full of happiness. 
My bosom bounds beneath thy smile as doth 
The sea's unto the moon, his mighty mistress ; 
Lying and looking up to her, and sa;y'ing — 
Lovely ! lovely ! lovely ! lady of the Heavens ! 
Oh ! when the thoughts of other joyous days — 
Perchance, if such may be, of happier times — 
Are falling gently on the memory 
Like autumn leaves distained with dusky gold, 
Yet softly as a snowflake ; and the smile 
Of kindliness, like thine, is beaming on me — 
Oh ! pardon, if I lose myself, nor know 
Whether I be with Heaven or thee. 

Elissa. Use not 

Such ardent phrase, nor mix the claim of aught 
On earth with thoughts more than with hopes of 

Heaven. 



FESTUS. 297 

Lucifer. Hopes, ladj ! I have none. 

Elissa. Thou must have. All 

Have hopes, however vrretched they may be, 
Or blest. It is hope which lifts the lark so high — 
Hope of a lighter aii' and bluer sk j : 
And the poor hack which drops down on the flints — 
Upon whose eye the dust is settling — 
He hopes to die. No being is which hath 
Not love and hope. 

Lucifer. Yes — one! The ancient 111, 

Dwelling and damned through all which is ; that 

spirit 
Whose heart is hate — who is the foe of God — 
The foe of all. 

Elissa. How knowest thou such doth live ? 
Love is the happy privilege of mind — 
Love is the reason of all living things. 
A Trinity there seems of principles, 
Which represent and rule created life — 
The love of self, our fellows, and our God. 
In all throughout one common feeling reigns : 
Each doth maintain and is maintained by the other ; 
All are compatible — all needful ; one 
To life — to virtue one — and one to bliss ; 
Which thus together make the power, the end, 
And the perfection of created Being. 
From these three principles doth every deed, 
Desire, and will, and reasoning, good or bad, come ; 
To these they all determine — sum and scheme : 
The three are one in centre and in round ; 
Wrapping the world of life as do the skies 
Our world. Hail ! air of love by which we live ! 
How sweet, how fragrant ! Spirit, though unseen — 
Void of gross sign — is scarce a simple essence, 
Immortal, immaterial, though it be. 



208 FESTUS. 

One only simple essence llvetli — God — 
Creator, uncreate. The brutes beneath, 
The angels high above us, with ourselves. 
Are but compounded things of mind and form. 
In all things animate is therefore cored 
An elemental sameness of existence ; 
For God, being Love, in love created all, 
As He contains the whole, and penetrates. 
Seraphs love God, and angels love the good : 
We love each other ; and these lower lives, 
Which walk the earth in thousand diverse shapes, 
According to their reason, love us too : 
The most intelligent affect us most. 
Nay, man's chief wisdom 's love — the love of God. 
The new religion — final perfect, pure — 
AYas that of Christ and love. His great command — 
His all-sufficing precept — was 't not love ? 
Truly to love ourselves we must love God — 
To love God we must all His creatures love — 
To love His creatures, both ourselves and Him. 
Thus love is all that 's wise, fair, good, and happy. 
Lucifer. How knowest thou God doth live? 
Why did He not. 
With that creating hand which sprinkled stars 
On space's bosom, bidding her breathe and wake 
From the long death-like trance in which she lay, — 
With that same hand which scattered o'er the sky, 
As this small dust I strew ujDon the wind. 
Yon countless orbs, aye fixing each on Him 
Its flaming eye, which winks and blenches oft 
Beneath His glance, — with the finger of that hand 
Which spangled o'er infinity with suns, 
And wrapped it round about Him as a robe, — 
Why did He not write out his own great name 
In spheres of fire, that Heaven might alway tell 



FESTUS. 299 

To every creature, God ? If not, tlien why 
Should I believe when I behold around me 
Nought scarce, save ill and woe ? 

Elissa. God surely lives ! 

"Without God all things are in tunnel darkness. 
Let there be God, and all are sun — all God. 
And to the just soul, in a future state, 
Defect's dark mist, thick-spreading o'er this vale, 
Shall dim the eye no more, nor bound survey ; 
And evil, now which boweth being down 
As dew the grass, shall only fit all life 
For fresher growth and for intenser day, 
Where God shall dry all tears as the sun dew. 
Lucifer. Oh ! lady, I am wretched. 
Elissa. Say not so. 

With thee I could not deem myself unhappy. 
Hark to the sea ! It sounds like the near hum 
Of a great city. 

Lucifer. Say, the city earth ; 

For such these orbs are in the realms of space. 
Elissa. I dreamed once that the night came down 
to me; 
In figure, oh ! too like thine own for truth, 
And looked into me with his thousand eyes, 
And that made me unhappy ; but it passed, 
And I half wished it back. Mind hath its earth 
And Heaven. The many petty common thoughts 
On which we daily tread, as it were, make one, 
And above which few look ; the other is 
That high and welkin-like infinity — 
The brighter, upper half of the mind's world, 
Thick with great sun-like and constellate thoughts ; 
And in the night of mind, which is our sleep, 
These thoughts shine out in dreams. Dreams double 
life J 



300 FESTUS. 

They are the heart's bright shadow on life's flood ; 

And even the step from death to deathlessness — 

From this earth's gross existence unto Heaven — 

Can scarce be more than from the harsh hot daj 

To sleep's soft scenes, the moonlight of the mind. 

The wave is never weary of the wind, 

But in mountainous playfulness leaps to it 

Always ; but mind gets weary of the world, 

And glooms itself in sleep, like a sweet smile, 

Line by line, settling into proper sadness ; 

For sleep seems part of our immortality : 

And why should any thing that dies be sad ? 

Last night I dreamed I walked within a hall -7- 

The inside of the world. Lonsj shroud-like li<2;hts 

Lit up its lift-like dome and pale wide walls, 

Horizon-like ; and every one was there : 

It was the house of Death, and Death was there. 

"We could not see him, but he was a feeling : 

We knew he was around us — heard us — eyed us ; 

But where wast thou ? I never met thee once. 

And all was still as nothing ; or as God, 

Deep judging, when the thought of making first 

Quickened and stirred within Him ; and He made 

All Heaven at one thought as at a glance. 

Noise was there none ; and yet there was a sound 

Which seemed to be half like silence, half like sound 

All crept about still as the cold wet worms. 

Which slid among our feet, we could not scape frc m. 

Bound me were ruined fragments of dead gods — • 

Those shadows of the mystery of One — 

And the red worms, too, flourished over these, 

For marble is a shadow weighed with mind ; 

Each being, as men of old believed, distinct 

In form, and place, and power. But Oh ! not all 

The jrathered gods of Eld could shine like ours, 



1 



FESTUS. 301 

No more tlian all yon stars could make a sun. 

But truly then men lived in moral night, 

' Neath a dim starlight of religious truth. 

I felt my spirit's spring gush out more clear, 

Gazing on these : they beautified my mind 

As rocks and flowers reflected do a well. 

Mind makes itself like that it lives amidst, 

And on ; and thus, among dreams, imaginings, 

And scenes of awe, and purity, and power. 

Grows sternly sweet and cairn — all beautiful 

"With god-like coldness and unconsciousness 

Of mortal passion, mental toil ; until, 

Like to the marble model of a god. 

It doth assume a firm and dazzling form, 

Scarcely less incorruptible than that 

It emblems : and so grew, methought, my mind. 

Matter hath many qualities ; mind, one : 

It is irresistible : pure power — pure god. 

While wandering on I met what seemed myself: 

Was it not strange that we should meet, and there ? 

But all is strange in dreaming, as in death. 

And waking, as in life : nought is not strange. 

Methought that I was happy, because dead. 

All hurried to and fro ; and many cried 

To each other — Can I do thee any good ? 

But no one heeded : nothing could avail : 

The world was one great grave. I looked, and saw 

Time on his two great wings — one, night — one, 

day — 
Fly, moth-like, right into the flickering sun ; 
So that the sun went out, and they both perished. 
And one gat up and spake — a holy man — 
Exhorting them ; but each and all cried out — 
Go to I — it helps not — means not : we are dead. 
Death spake no word methought, but me he made 



302 FESTDS. 

Speak for him ; and I dreamed that I was Death ; 

Then, that Death only lived : all things were mixed ; 

Up and down shoot mg, like the brain's fierce dance 

In a delirium, when Ave are apt to die. 

Hell is my heir ; what kin to me is Heaven ? 

Bring out your hearts before me. Give your limbs 

To whom ye list or love. My son, Decay, 

"Will take them : give them him. I want your hearts, 

That I may take them up to God. There came 

These words among us, but we knew not whence ; 

It was as if the air spake. And there rose 

Out of the earth a giant thing, all earth ; 

His eye was earthy, and his arm was earthy : 

He had no heart. He but said, I am Decay ; 

And, as he spake, he crumbled into earth. 

And there was nothing of him. But we all 

Lifted our faces up at the word, God, 

And spied a dark star high above in the midst 

Of others, numberless as are the dead. 

And all plucked out their hearts, and held them in 

Their right hands. Many tried to pick out specks 

And stains, but could not : each gave up his heart. 

And something — all things — nothing — it was Death, 

Said, as before, from air — Let us to God! 

And straight we rose, leaving behind the raw 

Worms and dead gods, all of us — soared and soared 

Right upwards, till the star I told thee of 

Looked like a moon — the moon became a sun : 

The sun — there came a hand between the sun and us, 

And its five fingers made five nights in air. 

God tore the glory from the sun's broad brow. 

And flung the flaming scalp off" flat to Hell. 

I saw Him do it ; and it passed close by us. 

And then I heard a long, cold, skeleton scream, 

Like a trumpet whining through a catacomb. 



FESTUS. 303 

Which made the sides of that great grave shake in. 

I saw the world and vision of the dead 

Dim itself off — and all was life ! I woke, 

And felt the high sun blazoning on mj brow 

His own almighty mockery of woe, 

And fierce and infinite laugh at things which cease. 

Hell hath its light — and Heaven ; he burns with 

both. 
And my dream broke, like life from the last limb — 
Quivering; so loth I felt to let it go, 
Just as I thought I had caught sight of Heaven. 
It came to nought, as dreams of Heaven on earth 
Do always. 

Lucifer. It is time we part again. [well ! 

Elissa. Farewell, then, gentle stars ! To-night, fare- 
For we all part at once. It is thus the bright 
Visions and joys of youth break up — but they 
For ever. When ye shine again I will 
Be with ye ; for I love ye next to him. 
To all, adieu ! When shall I see thee next ? 

Lucifer. Lady, I know not. 

Elissa. Say! 

Lucifer. Never! perchance. 

Elissa. There is but one immortal in the world 
Wlio need say — never ! 

Lucifer. What if I were he ? 

Elissa. But thou art not he ; and thou shalt not 
say it. 
Stars rise and set — rise, set, and rise again 
In their sublime-like beauty through all time. 
Why should not we, too, ever meet, like them ? 

Lucifer. I see no beauty — feel no love — all things 
Are unlovely. 

Elissa. O earth ! be deaf; and Heaven ! 
Shut thv bine eye. He doth blaspheme the world. 



04 FESTUS. 



Dost not love me ? 

Lucifer. Love thee ? Ay ! Earth and Heaven 
Together could not make a love like mine. 

Elissa. When wilt thou come a^rain ? To-mor- 



o 



row? 



Lucifer. Well. 

And then I cross yon sea ere I return ; 
For I have matters in another land. 
Fear not. 

Elissa. When will our parting days be over? 

Lucifer. Oh ! soon— soon ! Think of me love, on 
the waters ! 
Be happy ! and, for me, I love few things more 
Than at night to ride upon the broad-backed billow, 
Seaing along and plunging on his precipitous path ; 
While the red moon is westering low away, 
And the mad waves are fighting for the stars. 
Like men for — what they know not. 

Elissa. Scomer ! 

Lucifer. Saint ! 

Elissa. The world hath much that's great ; and but 
one sea, 
Which is her spirit ; and to her it stands 
As the mad monarch passion to the heart — 
Fathomless, overwhelming, which receives 
The rivers of all feeling ; in whose depths 
Lie wrecked the riches of all nature. God, 
When He did make thee, moved upon thee then, 
And left His impress there, the same even now 
As when thy last wave leapt from Chaos. — Hark ! 
Nay, there is some one coming. 

Festus entering. It is L 

I said we should be sure to meet thee here : 
For I have brought one who would speak with thee. 

Lucifer. Thanks ! and where is he ? 



FESTUS. 305 

Festus. Yonder. He would not 

Come up so far as this. 

LuciFEK. TVTio is it? 

Festu^. I know not 

Who he may be, or what ; but I can guess. 

Lucifer. Remain a moment, love, till I return. 

Elissa. Nay — let me leave ! 

Lucifer. Not yet : do not dislike him. 

He is a friend, and — more another time. [parting. 

Festus. I am sorry, lady, to have caused this 
I fear- 1 am unwelcome. 

Elissa. We were parting. 

Festus. Then am I doubly sorry ; for I know 
It is the saddest and the sacredest 
Moment of all Avith those who love. 

Elissa. He is comins: T 

So I forgive thee. 

Lucifer. I must leave thee, love : 

I know not for how long ; it rests with thee 
If it seem long at all. Eternity 
Might pass, and I not know it in thy love. 

Elissa, If to believe that I do love thee always 
May make time fly the fleeter — 

Lucifer. I '11 believe it — 

Trust me. I leave this lady in thy charge, 
Festus. Be kind — wait on her — may he, love ? 

Elissa. Thou knowest. I receive liim as thy friend 
Whenever he come. 

Festus. I ask no higher title 

Than friend of the lovely and the generous. 

Elissa. Farewell ! 

Festus. Lady ! I will not forget my trust. 
(Apart) The breeze Avhich curls the lake's bright lip 
A purer, deeper, water to the light ; [but lifts 

The ruffling of the wild bird's wing but wakes 
20 



306 FESTUS. 

A warmer beauty and a downier depth. 
That startled shrink, that faintest blossom-blusli 
Of constancy alarmed ! — Love ! if thou hast 
One weapon in that shining armoury, * , 

The quiver on thy shoulder, where thou keep'st 
Each arrowy eye-beam feathered with a sigh ; — 
If from that bow, shaped so like Beauty's lip 
Strung with a string of pearls, thou wilt twang forth 
But one dart, fair into the mark I mean, — 
Do it, and I will worship thee for ever : 
Yea, I will give thee glory and a name 
Known, sunlike, in all nations. Heart, be still ! 

Lucifer. This parting over — 

Elissa. Yes, this one — and then ? 

Lucifer. Why, then another, may be. 

Elissa. No — no more. 

I 'U be unhappy if thou tell'st me so. 

Lucifer. Well, then — no more. 

Elissa. But when wilt thou come back ? 

Lucifer. Almost before thou wishest. He will 
know. 

Elissa. I shall be always asking him. Farewell ! 

[ Goes, 

Lucifer. Shine on, ye stars ! and light her to 
her rest ; 
Scarce are ye worthy for her handmaidens. 
Why, Hell would laugh to learn I had been in love. 
I have affairs in Hell. Wilt go with me ? 

Festus. Yes, in a month or two : — not just this 
minute. 

Lucifer. I shall be there and back again ere then. 

Festus. Meanwhile I can amuse myself: so, go! 
But sometime I would fain behold thy home, 
And pass the gates of fire. 

Lucifer. And so thou shaJt. 



FESTUS. o07 

My home is everywhere where spirit is. 
All things are as I meant them. Fare thee M'elh 

[ Goes. 

Festus. The strongest passion which I have 13 

[ would I had none : it is in my way. [honour : 

Scene — Everyichere. 
Lucifer and Festus. 

Fesius. Why, earth is in the very midst of 
Heaven ! 
A.nd space, though void of things, feels full of God. 
[lath space no limit ? 

Lucifer. None to thee. Yet, if 

Infinite, it would equal God ; and that 
To think of is most vain. 

Festus. And yet if not 

Infinite how can God exist therein ? 

Lucifer. I say not. 

Festus. No. So soon when placed beside 
The infinite the poor immortal fails. 

Lucifer. Space is God's space : Eternity is His 
Eternity ; His, Heaven. He only holds 
Perfections wdiich are but the impossible 
To other beins^s. 

Festus. "We are thincrs of time. 

Lucifer. With God time is not. Unto Him 
all is 
Present Eternity. Worlds, beings, years, 
With all their natures, powers, and events, 
Tlie range whereof when making He ordains, 
Unfold themselves like flowers. He foresees 
Not, but sees all at once. Time must not be 
Contrasted with Eternity : 't is not 



308 FESTUS. 

A second of the everlasting year. 

Perfections although infinite with God, 

Are all identical ; as much of Him — 

And holy is His mercy, merciful 

His wisdom, wise His love, and kind his wrath — 

As form, extension, parts, are requisites 

Of matter. Spirit hath no parts. It is 

One substance, whole and indivisible. 

Whatever else. Souls see each other clear 

At one glance, as two drops of rain in air 

Might look into each other, had they life. 

Death does away disguise. Even here I feel 

Among these mighty things, that, as I am, 

I am akin to God ; — that I am part 

Of the use universal, and can grasp 

Some portion of that reason in the which 

The whole is ruled and founded ; — that I have 

A spirit nobler in its cause and end. 

Lovelier in order, greater in its powers. 

Than all these bright immensities — how swift ! 

And doth creation's tide for ever flow. 

Nor ebb v/ith like destruction ? "World on world, 

Are they for ever heaping up, and still 

The mighty measure never full ? 

Lucifer. To act 

Is power's habit ; alway to create, 
God's ; which, thus ever causing worlds, to Him 
Nought cumbrous more than new down to a wing, 
Aye multiplies at once my power and pain. 
I have seen many frames of being pass. 
This generation of the universe 
"Will soon be gathered to its grave. These worlds, 
"Which bear its sky-pall, soon will follow thine. 
I, both. All things must die. 

Festus. What are ye orbs ? 



FESTUS. 309 

Tlie words of God — tlie Scriptures of tlie skies ? 
For words with Him cannot be passing, nor 
Less real, vast, or glorious than yourselves. 
The world is a great poem, and the worlds 
The words it is writ in, and we souls the thoughts. 
Ye cannot die. 

Lucifer. Think not on death. Here all 
Is life, light, beauty. Harp not so on death. 

Festus. I cannot help me, spirit ! Chide no more. 
As who dare gaze the sun, doth after see 
Betwixt him and else a dark sun in liis eye ; 
So I, once having braved my burning doom, 
See nought beside — or that in everything. 
Hark, what is that I hear ? 

Lucifer. An angel weeping — 

Earth's guardian angel. She is ever weeping. 

Festus. See where she flies, spirit-torn, round 
the heavens, 
Like a fore-feel of madness about the brain. 
AjiGtii. OF Earth. Stars, stars ! 
Stop your bright cars ! 
Stint your breath — 
Repent ere worse — 
Think of the death 
Of the universe. 
Fear doom, and fear, 
The fate of your kin-sphere. 
As a corse in the tomb. 
Earth ! thou art laid In doom : 
The worm is at thy heart. 
I see all things part : — 
The bright air thicken. 
Thunder-stricken : 
Birds from the sky 
Shower like leaves : 



SIO FESTUS. 

Streamlets stop > 

Like ice on leaves : 

The sun go blind : 

Swoon the wind 

On the high hill top — 

Swoon and die : 

Earth rear olf her cities 

As a horse his rider ; 

And still, with each deatli-strain^ 

Her heart- wound tear wider : 

The lion roar and die 

"With his eye-balls on the sky : 

The eagle scream 

And drop like a beam : 

Men crowd and cry, 

Out on this deathful dream ! 

A low dull sound — 

'Tis the march of many bones 

Under ground ; 

Up ! and they fling, 

Like a fly's wing, 

Off them the grey grave-stones ; 

They sit in their biers — 

Father and mother, 

Man and wife. 

Sister and brother, 

As in life ; 

Lady and lover — 

Love all over. 

Their flesh re-appears — 

Their hearts beat — 

Their eyes have tears : 

Woe ! woe ! 

Do they speak ? 

Stir? No! 



FESTUS. 311 

Tongues were too weak, 

Save to repeat 

Woe! 

But they smile 

In a while ; 

For to wipe from His word 

The dust of years, 

He comes ! he comes ! the Lord, 

Man- God, re-appears ; 

To bless, and to save 
• From death and the grave — 

To redeem and deliver 

For ever and ever ! 

The dead rise — 

Death dies. 

Go, Time, and sink 

Thy great thoughts in the sea ! 

And quench thy red link ! 

Let him flutter to rest 

On thy God-nursing breast. 

Eternity ! 

Mother Eternity ! 

What is for me ? 
Festus. Poor angel ! Ah ! it is the good who 
suffer. 
Look ! like a cloud, she has wept herself away. 
What of this world we view and all yon worlds ? 
If God made not all things from nothing, how 
Is He creator ? Something must exist 
If otherwise, eternal with Himself; 
And all things had not origin in Him. [world 

Lucifer. He made all things of Him. The visible 
Is as the Christ of nature ; God the maker 
In matter made self manifest through time. 
All things are formed of all things — all of God. 



312 FESTUS. 



o 



The world is made of wonders. Every day 
Is born a new creation. Every orb 
Hath its revealed word ; and every race 
Of Being hath its judgment, or shall have. 

Festus. Are all tliese wo^'lds, then, stocked with 
Free, fallible, and sinful .'' [souls like man's — 

Lucifer. Ay, they are. 

All creature -minds, like man's, are fallible. 
The seraph who in Heaven highest stands 
May fall to ruin deepest. God is mind — 
Pure, perfect, sinless. Man imperfect is — 
Momently sinning. Evil then results 
From imperfection. The idea of good 
Is owned in imperfection's lowest form. 
God would not, could not, make aught wholly ill, 
Nor aught not like to err. Man never was 
Perfect nor pure, or he would be so now. 
Thy nature hath some excellencies — these 
Oft thwarted by low lusts and wicked wills. 
What then ? They are necessitate in kind, 
As change in nature, or as shade to light. 
No darkness hath the sun — no weakness God : 
These only be the faulty qualities 
Of secondary natures — planets, men. 
God hath no attributes unless To Be [made. 

Be one : 't would mix Him with the things He hath 
God is all God, as life is that which lives. 
I am a mighty spirit, and yet I 
Am but to God what lightning is to light : 
Lightning slays one thing — light makes all things live. 
Bear, then, thy necessary ills with grace ; 
No positive estate or principle 
Is Evil — debtor wholly for its form 
And measure to defect — defect to good. 
Good 's the sole positive principle in the world ; 



FESTUS. 313 

It is only thus, that what God makes, He loves — 
And must ; the others are but off-shoots. Ill 
Is limited. One cannot form a scheme 
For universal evil ; not even I. 

Festus. Can imperfection from perfection come ? 
Can God make aught defective ? 

Lucifer. How aught else? 

There are but three proportions in all things — 
The greater — equal — less. God could not make 
A God above Himself, nor equal with — 
By nature and necessity the Highest ; 
So, if He make, it must be lesser minds 
Little and less from angels down to men, 
Whose natures are imperfect, as His own 
Must be all-perfect. These two states are not, 
Except as whole unto its parts, opposed ; 
And evil is itself no ill unless 
Creation be. 

Festus. Is God the cause of evil ? 

Lucifer. So far as evil comes from imperfection, 
And imperfection from the things He hath made, 
And what He hath made from His will to make. 

Festus. Oh ! let me rest, be it but a moment's 
pause ! 
This endless light-like journey wearies me. 
Remember still my spirit toils in dust — 
A dark close cloud. 

Lucifer. Alight, then, on this orb. 

I am not wearied : I will watch by thee. 
He sleeps — he dreams. How far men see in dreams ! 
In dreams they can accomplish worlds of things ; 
The heart then suffers a fusion of all feeling 
Back to its youthful hours of innocence. 
And nakedness, and paradise ; ere yet 
The world had wound a perishing garb around it ; 



314 FESTUS. 

While yet its God came down and spake to it. 
Such and so great are dreams. My might, my being 
•To him is but a dream's. And could a state 
To come fill up their dream-stretched minds, they 

might 
Be gods. And may it not be so ? Then man 
Is worth my ruining. What does he dream ? 
With all the sway his spirit now exerts 
O'er time, space, thought, it is but a shadowy sway, 
Light as a mountain shadow on a lake. 
Mine is the mountain's self. A touch would shake 
To nought whatever his soul now feels or acts ; 
But not a world-quake could touch aught of mine : 
Thus much we differ. I will not envy man. 
Power alone makes being bearable. 
And yet this dream-power is mind-power — real : 
All things are real : fiction cannot be. 
A thought is real as the world — a dream 
True as all God doth know — with whom all is true. 
The deep dense sleep of half-dead exhaustedness ! 
Would I could feel it. Ah ! he wakes at last. 

Festus. Oh ! I have dreamed a dream so beau- 
tiful ! 
Methought I lay as it were here ; and, lo ! 
A spirit came and gave me wings of light. 
Which thrice I waved delighted. Up we flew 
Sheer through the shining air, far past the sun's 
Broad blazing disk, — past where the great great 

snake 
Binds in his bright coil half the host of Heaven, — 
Past thee, Orion ! who, with arm uplift, 
Threatening the throne of God, dost ever stand 
Sublimely impious ; and thy mighty mace 
Whirling on high, down from its glorious seat 
Drops, crushed and shattered, many a shining world. 



FESTUS. 315 

And so the brave and beautiful of old 

Believed tbou wast a giant made of worlds : 

And tliey were right, if thus they bodied out 

The immortal mind ; for it hath starlike beauty, 

And worldlike might ; and is as high above 

The things it scarns, and will make war with God, 

Though lie gave it earth and Heaven, and arms 

to win 
Them both ; and, spite of lust and pride, to earn them. 
And now thy soul mforms yon hundred stars, 
As mine my limbs — well, 't is a noble end. 
What now to thee be mortal maid or goddess ? 
Look ! she who fled thee once, now loves and longs 
To clasp thee to her cold and beamy breast. 
Pine moon ! thou art as far below him now, 
As once she was above thee, thou of the world-belt ! 
And she who had thee, and who knew thee god. 
Died of her boast, and lies in her own dust. 
And she who loved thee, the young blusliy Morning, 
Who caught thee in her arms, and bore thee off 
Far o'er the lashing seas to a lonely isle, 
Wliere she might pleasure longer and in secret — 
That love undid thee ; and it is so now : 
Whether the beauty seek, or flee, or have, 
'T is a like ill — this beauty doubly mortal. 
What though the moon with madness slew thee there, 
Let me beUeve it was within the arms 
That loved thee even in the stroke of death. 
And that there snapped the lightning Hnk of life. 
Kill, but not conquer, man nor mind may gods. 
Thou image of the Almighty error, man ! 
Banished and banned to Heaven, by a weak world. 
Which makes the minds it cannot master gods 
And thou, the first and greatest of half-gods, 
AVhich they in olden time did star together 



316 FESTUS. 



To an idolatrous immortality ; 

Who nationalized the Heavens, and gave all stars 

Unto the spirits of the good and brave, 

Forestalling God by agp J — wondrous men ! 

And if — beguiled by wine, and the low wiles 

Thou wouldst not creep to meet, and a drunken 

sleep. 
Like to high noon in the midst of all his might, 
Close by the brink of immortality — 
The deep dominions of thy sea-sire, thou 
Didst lose thy light by kings who hate the great, 
Thou only hadst to stand up to the sun, 
And gain again thine eyes. So the great king, 
The world, the tyrant we elect, in vain 
Puts out the eyes of mind : it looks to God, 
And reaps its light again. Wherefore, revenge ! 
Out with the sword ! the world will run before thee, 
Orion ! belted giant of the skies ! 
Thou with the treble strain of godhood in thee ! 
March ! there is nought to hinder thee in Ilea- 
• ven : — 

Past that great sickle saved for one day's woi-k, 
When He who sowed shall reap Creation's field ; — 
Past those high diademed orbs which show to man 
His crown to come ; — up through the starry strings 
Of that high harp close by the feet of God, 
Which He, methought, took up and struck, till 

Heaven, 
In love's immortal madness, rang and reeled ; 
The stars fell on their faces ; and, far off, 
The wild world halted — shook his burning mane -^- 
Then, like a fresh-blown trumpet blast, went on, 
Or like a god gone mad. On, on we flew, 
I and the spirit, far beyond all things 
Of measure, motion, time and aught create ; 



FESTUS. 317 

Wliere the stars stood on the ed^-e of the first no- 



thing, 
And looked each other in the face and fled, — 
Past even the last long starless void, to God ; 
Whom straight I heard, methought, commanding 

thus : 
Immortal ! I am God. Hie back to earth. 
And say to all, that God doth saj — Love God ! 

Lucifer. God visits men adreaming : I, awake. 

F EST us. And my dream changed to one of gen- 
Wilt hear it ? [eral doom. 

Lucifer. Ay, say on ! It is but a dream. 

Festus. God made all mind and motion cease; 
and, lo ! 
The whole was death and peace. An endless time 
Obtained, in which the power of all made failed. 
God bade the worlds to judgment, and they came — 
Pale, trembling, corpse-like. To the souls therein 
Then spake the Maker : Deathless spirits, rise ! 
And straight thev thronfjed around the throne. 

His arm 
The Almighty then uplift, and smote the worlds 
Once, and they fell in fragments like to spray, 
And vanished in their native void. He shook 
The stars from IIea,ven like rain-di'ops from a bough ; 
Like tears they poured adown creation's face. 
Spirit and space were all things. Matter, death, 
And time, left even not a wake to tell 
Where once their track o'er beinoj. God's own li^rht 
Undarkened and unhindered by a sun. 
Glowed forth alone in glory. And through all 
A clear and tremulous sense of God prevailed, 
Like to the blush of love upon the cheek. 
Or the fidl feeling lightening through the eye, 
Or the quick music in the chords of harps. 



318 FESTUS. 

God judged all creatures unto bliss or woe, 
According to their deeds, and faith, and His 
Own will : and straight the saved upraised a voice 
AYhicli seemed to emulate eternity 
In its triumphant overblossedness. 
The lost leapt up and cursed God to His face — 
A curse might make the sun turn cold to hear ; 
And thee, in all thy burning glory, tremble, 
In front of all thine angels, like a chord. 
Kage writhed each brow into a changeless scowl. 
Madly they mocked at God, and dared His eye, 
Safe in their curse of deathlessness. To Hell 
They hied like storms ; and, cursing all things, eacli 
Soul wrapped him in his shroud of fire for aye, ♦ 

"With one long loud howl which seemed to deafen 
And then I woke. [Heaven — 

Lucifer. A wild fantastic dream ! 

A mere mirage of mind ! Come, let us leave : 
We have seen enough of this world. 

Festus. Lift me up, then ! 

"World upon world how they come rolling on ! 
But none that I see are so fair as earth : 
There is so much to love that is purely earth. 
Now I could wander all day in the wood, 
Wliere nature, like a sibyl, writes the fate 
Of all that live on her red forest leaves : 
And have no other aim than wandering 
Within that wood, and wind my arms around 
Its grey gaunt trunks, and think and feel to them ; 
While the wind, smking, moans over the earth 
Like a giant over some dead captive dame, 
Whom death had saved from madness and his love ; — 
Could tramp across the brown and springy moor. 
And over the purple ling, and never tire ; — 
Could look upon the ripple of a river, 



FESTUS. 319 

Or on a tree's long shadow down a hill. 
For a whole summer's day, wishing the sun 
"Would drink my soul up to him as he draws 
Dew from the earth. These things are in my mind, 
And suns and systems cannot drive them out. 
Dost ravaore all these worlds ? 

Lucifer. Ay, all mine own. 

Where spirit is, there evil ; and the world 
Is full of me as ocean is of brine. 

Festus. God is all perfect ; man imperfect. Thou? 

Lucifer. I am the imperfection of the whole — 
The pitch profoundest of the fallible. 
Myself the all of evil which exists — 
The ocean heaped into a single surge. 

Festus. God ! why wouldst Thou make the 
universe? [of its decay; 

Lucifer. Child ! quench yon suns ; strip death 
Men of their follies — Hell of all its woe ! 
These, if thou didst, thou couldst not banish me. 
I am the shadow which Creation casts 
From God's own light. — But here we are, at Hell. 
Hark to the thunderous roaring of its fires ! 
Yet ere we further pass — stop ! dost thou shrink ? 

Festus. At nought — not I ! Come on, fiend ! 
follow me ! 

Scene — Hell. 

Lucifer and Festus entering. 

Lucifer. Behold my world! Man's science 
counts it not 
Upon the brightest sky. He never knows 
How near it comes to him ; but, swathed in clouds, 
As though in plumed and palled state, it steals 
Hoarselike and thieflike round the universe, 



320 FESTUS. 

For ever rolling and returning not — 

Kobbing all worlds of many an angel soul — 

"With its Jight hidden in its breast, which burns 

With all concentrate and superfluent woe. 

Kor sun nor moon illume it, and to those 

Which dwell in it, not live, the starry skies . 

Have told no time since first they entered there. 

"Worlds have been built, and to their central base 

Ruined and rased to the last atom ; they 

Of neither know nor can — unconscious save 

To agony — nought knowing even of God 

But His omnipotence to execute 

Torture on those He hath in wrath endowed 

AYith Heaven's own immortality, to make 

Them feel what woe the Almighty can inflict, 

And the all-feeble suffer, and not be 

Annihilated as they would. Be sure 

That this is Hell. The blood which hath embrued 

Earth's breast, since first men met in war, may hope 

Yet to be formed again and reascend. 

Each drop its individual vein; the foam-bubble, 

Sun-drawn out of the sea into the clouds, 

To scale the cataract down which it fell. 

Or seek its primal source in earth's hot heart ; 

But for the lost to rise to or regain 

Heaven, or to hope it, is impossible. [both ? 

Festus. Are all these angels then, or men, or 
Or mortals of all worlds ? 

Lucifer. Immortals all. 

Festus. What numbers ! 
Lucifer. All are spirits fallen through sin 

At various periods of eternity; 
And not by, one offence, to one same doom, 
And at one moment, did they down from Heaven 
Like to the rapid droppings of a shower ; — 



FESTUS. 32] 

No ! each distinct as thunder-peals, they fell ; 
Save those that fell with me. With me began 
Sin even in Heaven ; with me but sin remains. 
Once I alone was Hell. Behold my fruits ! 

Festus. What do yon fiends ! some 'mong them 
look like mortals : [through ashes. 

Their hearts shine through them like live coals 
They look like madmen gone delirious. 
Oh ! horror ! let me hence ! 

Lucifer. Nay, heai* ! 

F$:sTus. I hear! 

A strain incongruous as a merry dirge, 
Or sacramental bacchanal might be. [best; 

Lucifer. Men are they not, but devils at the 
And I would have thee mark them. 

Festus. I attend. 

Fiends. Fill the bowl ! it burns but blackly : 

Fill it up with living fire : 
Drunkard ! hadst thou sipped as slackly 

As thou pourest — pour it higher ! 
Then thou hadst ne'er with me been bound 

In Hell to dwell ; 
But let the burning health go round — 

Drunkard ! — to Hell ! 

Fill ! it drinks but cold and leadly ; 

Fill it up with bubbling fire : 
Drink ! 'tis nothing half so deadly 

As thy soul when living, Liar ! 
Or thou hadst ne'er with me been bound 

In Hell to dwell ; 
But let the burning health go round — 

Liar ! — to HeU ! 

Fill ! it boils but sick and sadly ; 
Fill ! some more immortal fire : 

21 



322 FESTUS. 

Murderer ! drain it quickly, madly, 

As the stab thou gav'st thy sire I 
Or thou hadst ne'er with me been bound 

In Hell to dwell ; 
But let the burning health go round — 

Murderer ! — to Hell ! 

Festus. Nay, let me quit ! now know I what Hell is. 
What are they — drunkards, liars, murderers ? 

Lucifer. Can wine destroy the soul ? or Hell's 
fierce flames 
Feed upon holy water, wherewith Priest 
Baptiseth sinless babe ? Can liar make 
God lie ? or cheat his neighbour of his soul ? 
No ! God's salvation waiteth not on man's 
Weak will nor ministry ; nor man's perdition 
Upon his brother's hatred or neglect. 
Can murderer slay the soul ? or suicide 
Drug immortality ? Their sin is great, 
And is eternally condemned of God ; 
But of their nature, the which Death destroys, 
Their own as well as victim's recompense. 
When Time hath overcome the ruin wrought 
Upon their hearts who loved the dead, that they 
Who suffered most have most forgiven ill, — 
Shall the dead slay the living ceaselessly ? — 
Shall God, who is all Love, reverse, reserve. 
Here in Hell, ages afterwards, those crimes ? 
And because man hath sinned a moment, crown 
All crime in instituting punishment 
Unending for an instantaneous wrong? 
Shall that be justice ? It were more than vengeance. 
Yet such the Deity men fable, such 
The Hell whereto they doom themselves. 

Festus. No more. 

The world is all sufficient for itself; 



FESTUS. 323 

Aiid Hell and Heaven are not the equivalents 
Of earth's iniquities and righteousness. 

Lucifer. Can those who are idolators defraud 
God of His worship ? who adore the world, 
Gold, or as savages, the stars and Heaven, 
And Elements of Earth ? K'one worship Him, 
But with and in His spirit. Nought attains 
His love but that proceedeth from it first. 
His praise is everlasting in all worlds 
And stany ages of eternity. 
Can they who covet the world's worthiest goods, 
Wealth, honour, power, knowledge, rank, or aught 
Merit eternal torment for a sin 
Wlierewith is bound the world's prosj^erity 
And human glory ? Nought eternal is 
But that which is of God. All pain and woe 
Are therefore finite. Can the robber steal 
From God or Heaven a thing or from the soul ? 
Or the deflowerer desecrate and undo 
The espousals of the spirit with its Lord ? 
How weak is virtue, then, and vice, how vain ! 
How wretched human righteousness — and sin, 
How despicable to the soul assured, 
Since neither hath a recompense. The one 
By Him destroyed who can alone unmake 
That He hath made ; the other perfected, 
United, Deified in God the son 
With His own nature. Infinite Universe ! 
Thou hast no like, no second favourite 
To mortal man of God's. 

Festus. What mean the words 

Of vender fiendish chant, there ? 

Lucifer. Words and shapes 

Are equally as soon assumed by spirits. 
What mean my words to thee ? 



324 FESTUS. 

Festus. In sooth, I know not. 

I am constrained to hear them. 

Lucifer. As for these ! — 

It is a fire of soul in which they burn, 
And by which they are purified from sin — 
Rid of the grossness which had gathered round them. 
And burned again into their virgin brightness. 
All things work round like worlds. The orb of Hell 
Hath yet its place in Heaven as thine and all. 
But, as a spiritual quality, 
As spirit is the substance of all matter — 
Hidden or open, heatlike doth inhere 
In all existence — or for good or ill. 
Look at yon spirit. 

Festus. Wliat was it brought thee hither ? 

Spirit. I was an angel once, ages agone ; 
But doing good and glorifying not 
God, who empowered me. He sent me here 
To fire the proud spot from my heart. 

Festus. And when 

"Wilt thou do this, and own thou hast wronged God ? 

Spirit. I do repent me, and confess it now. 
I will not ask God now to let me be 
What once I was ; but might I only sit 
A footstool for some other worthier far 
Who owneth now my throne, I should be happy — J 
Far happier than I was in my proud prayers, ^H 

That God would give me worlds on worlds to govern, 
And in receiving all their prayers and blessings. 

God ! remember me ! O save me ! 
Festus. See ! 

1 do believe there is an angel coming 
This way from Heaven. 

Spirit. He comes to me — to me I 

Angel. Hail, sufferer ! 

'^JpiRiT. Sinner. 



FESTUS. 325 

Angel. God hatli bade me bring thee 

Away to Heaven ; thy throne is kept for thee ; 
And all the hosts of Heaven are on the v^iuf* 
To welcome thee again. 

Spirit. I dare not come : 

I am not worthy Heaven. 

Angel. But God will make thee. 

Festus. Spirit — farewell! and may we meet again 
In better time and place. 

Spirit. Glory to God ! 

I go — farewell ! — and I will speak of thee. 
But, oh ! repent ! Be humble, and despair not. 

[^Angel and Spirit rise. 

Lucifer. Oh ! think, when all are judged, what 
hosts of souls 
"Will then be mine at last ! — what wincrs of fire ! 
Deemest thou yet as mortal ? 

Festus. This is not 

As thou didst speak of Hell, nor as I judged. 

Lucifer. Hell is the wrath of God — His hate 
of sin. 
God hates man's nature ; be it said of his 

As of all beings ! 

Festus. How hate that He hath made ? 

Lucifer. The infinite opposition of Perfection 
To imperfection leaves nor choice nor mean. 
Thus the demeanour of thy world grieved God, 
Till its destruction pleased Him, and its name 
Was struck out of the starry scroll ; thus all 
Creation worketh infinite grief in Time. 
When human nature is most perfect, then 
Its fall is nearest, as of ripest fruit. 
Man's pleasure in the world — to both of which 
His nature is made fit — is not of God, 
Save theirs on whom His spirit He bestows, 
As in a twilight between earth and Heaven, 



326 FESTUS. 

A promissory Being unfulfilled — 

But still how glorious to the stone-blind world. 

This is in time, but in eternity, 

He raises, remakes, adds to all He made 

His own immortalizing love and grace. 

Which keeps them ever pure as is the sea, 

Aiid incorruptible in godly will. 

The bliss of God and man originates, 

Unites, and ends in self — in Deity : 

To whom is neither motive — good — nor end 

Greater or less or other than Himself. 

Festus. But how can the Creator glory find 
In Hell, or creature, good — if God be Love, 
Or man a being sal v able ? Oh, say ! 
But who comes hither ? 

Lucifer. It is the Son of God ! — 
Omnipotent ! before whose steadfast feet 
The thrones of Heaven, which hoped to have o*er- 

thrown thine. 
But now all strengthlcss, hopeless. Godless here, 
Rose once and ebbed forever, even these 
Deep in their fiery abyss of woe 
Unbent, unbettered will again rush forth 
In all the might of madness and despair. 
To prove their hatred of Thee and Thy love. 
Salvation is the scorn of Angels here. 
What dost Thou here, not having sinned ? 

Son of God. For men 

I bore with death — for fiends I bear with sin ; 
And death and sin are each the pain I pay 
For the love which brought me down from Heaven 

to save 
Both men and devils ; and the Father makes 
And orders every instant Mdiat is best. 

Festus. This is God's truth : Hell feels a mo 
ment cool. 



FESTUS. 327 

Son of God. Hell is His justice — Heaven is 
His love — 
Earth His long suffering : all the world is but 
A quality of God ; therefore come I 
To temper these — to give to justice, mercy ; 
And to long-suffering, longer. Heaven is mine 
By birthright. Lo ! I am the heir of God : 
He hath given all things to me. I have made 
The earth mine own, and all yon countless worlds, 
And all the souls therein ; yea, soul by soul, 
And world by world, have I redeemed them all — 
One by one through eternity, or given 
The means of their salvation : why not, then, 
Hell? 

Festus. Every spirit is to be redeemed. 

Son of God. Mortal ! it has : the best and worst 
need one 
And same salvation. There is nothing final 
In all this world but God ; therefore these souls 
AYhom I see here, and pity for their woes — 
But for their evil more — these need not be 
Libelled for ever ; for although once, twice, thrice, 
On earth or here they may have put God from them, 
Disowned His prophets — mocked His angels — slain 
His Son in his mortality — and stormed 
His curses back to Him ; yet God is such, 
That He can pity still ; and I can suffer 
For them, and save them. Father ! I fear not. 
But by Thy might I can save Hell from Hell. 
Fiends ! hear ye me ! Why will ye burn for ever ? 
Look ! I am here all water : come and drink. 
And bathe in me ! baptize your burning souls 
Li the pure well of life — the spring of God. 
I come to save all souls who will be saved. 
Come, ye immortal fallen ! rise again ! 
There is a resurrection for the dead. 



328 FESTUS. 

And for the second dead. And thougli ye died, 
And fell, and fell again, and again died — 
There is a life to come, a rise for all, — 
A life to come for ever, and a rise 
Perpetual as the spring is in the year. 

A Fiend. Thou Son of God ! what wilt thou 
here with us ? 
Have we not Hell enough without Thy presence ? 
Remorse, and always strife, and hate of all, 
I see around me : is it not enough ? 
Why wilt Thou double it with Thy mild eyes ? 

Son of God. Spirit ! I come to save thee. 

Fiend. How can that be ? 

Son of God. Repent ! God will forgive thee 
then : and I 
Will save thee : and the Holy One shall hallow. 
Repent thou, for thy judgment is at hand : 
But if thou slurrest over these means and times. 
Which have been given thee for repentance here — 
Tremble ! This Hell is notliing to thy next. 
Believest thou I can save thee ? 

Fiend. Son of God ! 

I do believe it. Let me worship. 

Son of God. Come ! 

Come to me ! Lo ! I will but touch thy brow. 
And make thee bright as morning is in Heaven. 

SriRiT. Angel of light I am again ! Look here ! 
Thi3 — this is to be saved ! 

Lucifer. I like it not. [can do. 

Son of God. Hear ! ye immortals dead ! this I 
Repent ! and be all angels. 

Spirit. Oh, believe ! 

He is God. Worship Him ! He comes to save us. 

Lucifer. Stand thou beside me : I will speak to 
them : 



FESTUS. 329 

Or tliey will sure believe Him. Hell ! oh Hell ! 

Powers of perdition ! thrones of darkness ! — hear ! 

Wrath, ruin, torment ! — hear me ! It is T ! 

Thanks, fiends ! I know ye hate me well, and may : 

I tempted, ruined, damned ye every one. 

Yv^ere ye not proud, now, to be conquered by me ? 

But wherefore so supine ? Am I your lord ? 

Me do ye doubt ? or dare ye Him believe ? 

What is an angel dressed in shiny white ? 

Can I not make ye angels ? Ay ! and more : 

I cancot make ye less — nor ye yourselves — 

Nor God — nor Son of God. But hark to me ! 

Be still, ye thunderblasts and hills of fire ! 

Hell doth out-din itself. — Hell-hearted slaves ! 

What are ye that I thus should toil for ye ? 

Who hardly earn the fire that burns ye up ? 

Power I have proffered, but ye have refused : 

Nothing is for ye but your fiery fate. 

Kingdoms I have prepared, and ye have spurned. 

Slaves ! slaves ! ye are too much at ease ! Ye leave 

Me single in the work of woe. I, sole, 

Go forth to sow destruction : I, alone, 

Reap ruin. Had ye been as I, ere now 

The universe had been all Hell ; and, for 

A pit, each fiend had had a world to rule. 

Rise ! Yet we '11 play all hell against all Heaven. 

Up ! up ! and then at once we will battle God j 

And hurling each his orb against the throne. 

Strange if we will not scatter it like sand. 

To reign is nothing half like to dethrone ! 

Dethrone ! and each is greater then than God. 

And will ye, then, give up your hopes of Heaven, 

And entrance as young conquerors fresh from spoil, 

And choice of thrones won by your death-red hands. 

For pitiful repentance, like him yonder ? 



330 FESTUS. 

Forbid it ! all tlie prowess, pride, and pain 
Of Hell that we have borne with ! do ye not ? 
Meanwhile man's world is straight to be destroyed. 
Be glad ! be glad ! Earth's tons may soon be here. 
And here, as earnest of the truth I tell, 
Behold this earthling standing by my side ! 
Speak to them, Festus. 

Festus. Nay, I dread them. 

Lucifer. Speak ! 

Great spirits ! he scarce is worthy to address ye, 
In that I cannot say he yet is damned. [why ? 

Festus. But I am here ; what recks it how or 
Ye care not and I know not. It is fate : 
The will of God and him who sets me here ; 
And which I question not. It must be good, 
Whether decreed that I be saved or lost. 
But I have poor pretensions for this place ; 
And none, I hope, have worse that are to come. 
For I have never mocked the word of God, 
Nor torn it into fuel for my scorn : 
Nor doubted, saving tremblingly, His being : — 
His love to man — His right to be adored, — 
Never have hated, never wronged my race, — 
Deluded nor rejoiced in their delusion ; 
Never have beckoned off the good from good — 
Never have mocked nor scatt^^^ad hopes — nor e'er 
Have wasted hearts, nor desolated hearths ; 
And if I have once, twice, as who hath not ? 
Toyed with temptation, yet even he will say 
Who standeth there, that I have never given 
Up to his burning dalliance my soul. 
And yet he is my friend, the Evil one. 
And why is wondrous ; judge ye wherefore too. 
I have no malice, envy, nor revenge ; 
None of those petty passions which bnd hearts 
Scourge red into themselves — for passions are 



FESTUS. 331 

Sufferings — and which to nourish is his want ; 
"Wherein doth lie his power : these I have not. 
And, save enjoying earth, I have done never 
Aught that he could take part in. But he came 
From God he said, to give ; and I believed ; — 
Great spirits lie not — doubt not. 

Lucifer. He says truth. 

But it is not for him nor you to know 
The reason of my doings : it is the thing 
Unfeared and unforethought which tempts, betrays. 
It is I who bait the world to do its will. 
As to this mortal, God hath sanctioned all 
That I have done, or may do to the end ; 
Which I have nought to do with. Son of God ! 
Go on redeeming ! — I will go on damning. 
God ! go on making ! — I will go on marring. 
Go on believing, man ! — I go on tempting. 
Saint ! angel ! cherub ! seraph ! and archangel ! 
Go ye on blessing ! — I will go on cursing ! 
I now retrack my course to earth ; therein 
To work out what remaineth of the fate 
Of this man, and await his world's destruction. 
What next may hap I care not. 

Festus. Let us hence ! 

Lucifer. Where is He ? 

Festus. There — see many do believe. 

Orb of perdition ! thou too shalt die out, 
And thy red sheeted flames shall fail for aye. 
Thy palpitating piles of ruin, hot 
With ever active agony, and quick 
With soul immortal, down whose midnight heights 
The wrath of God in cataracts of fire 
Precipitates itself unceasingly. 
Shall rush into destruction as a steed 
Rushes into the battle, there to die. 
Thy quivering hills of black and bloody hue, 



332 FESTUS. 

Death-breathing, shall collapse like lifeless lungs, 

And end in air and ashes. Thou shalt be 

Dashed from creation spark-like from a hand 

Scarless : pass like a rolled syllable 

Of midnight thunder from the coming day. 

The river of all life, which flows through Heaven, 

Shall yet reach thee and overflood thy flames ! — 

Thou shalt no more vex God nor man ; nor all 

The seekings of the soul shall hunt thee out. 

Thy day is sometime over. Be it soon ! 

And thou the lost world which the world hath lost ! 



Scene — Colonnade and Lawn. 
Festus and Clara. 

Clara. What is it thou wilt tell me ? 

Festus. I have seen 

What ne'er again may be, nor e'er till now hath been. 

Clara. Where didst thou see — and what ? 

Festus. In space. He took me there. 

Of whom I oft have told thee. Midst in air 
Was God. I '11 tell thee that he told the spheres ; 
For the great family of the universe 
Round Him were gathered as a fire : but we 
Held back ; and, saving God, none did us see. 
Though round his throne in sunny halo rolls 
A ceaseless, countless throng of sainted souls. 

Clara. Say on, love ! Let me hear. 

Festus. A sound, then, first 

I heard as of a pent-up flood just burst : 
It was the rush of God's world- winnowing wing ; | 

Wliich bowed the orbs as flowers are bowed by breath 

of spring. 
And then a voice I heard, a voice sublime — 
To which the boarded thunders of all time 



FESTUS. 333 

Pealing earth's deatli-knell shall a whisper be — 
Saying these words — Where v/ill ye worship me ? 
Ay, where shall be your Maker's holy place ? 
The Heaven of Heavens is poor before His face. 
How shall ye mete my temple, ye who die ? 
Look ! can ye span your God's infinity ? 
Hear, mighty universe, thy Maker's voice ! 
Let all thy myriad, myriad worlds rejoice ! 
Lo ! I, your ]Maker, do amid ye come. 
To choose my worship and to name my home. 
This heard each sphere ; and all throughout the sky 
Came crowding round. Our earth was rolling by, 
"When God said to it — Rest ! and fast it stood. 
With voice like winds through some wide olden 

wood, 
Thus spake the One again : Behold, Earth ! 
Thy parent, God ! it is I who gave thee birth. 
With all my love I did thee once endow ; 
With all my mercy — and thou hast them now. 
But hear my words ! thou never lovedst me well, 
Nor fearedst my wrath : dreadst thou no longer 

HeU? [fires? 

Dream'st thou that guilt shall always mock those 
That deathless death which Hell for aye expires ? 
Should all creation its rebellion raise, 
I speak, and this broad universe doth blaze — 
Pass like a dew-drop 'neath mine angry rays — 
Blaze like the fat in sacrificial flame : 
And that burned offering, when I come to claim, 
Its scorching, quenchless mass, all, I will pour 
Upon thy naked soul : — canst thou endure ? 
He spake ; and, as the fear-fraught words flew past. 
Earth fluttered like a dead leaf in their blast. 
Am not I God ? Answer me ! Hope not thou, 
Impenitent, to ward my rigliteous blow. 



334 FESTUS. 

Yet, come again ! my proffered mercy hear ! 
Rejoice and sing ! sweet music in thine ear 
And peace I speak : seek but to be forgiven : 
Repent ! and thou shalt meet thy God in Heaven. 
Go ! cleanse thy brow from blood, thy heart from 
And on thy Saviour call while yet is time ! [crime, 
Now to this universe of pride and sin 
I speak, ere yet I call mine angels in. 
Draw nigh, ye worlds ! — and, lo ! their light did seem 
Before His eye paled to a pearl's dull beam. 
Attend ! said God — o'er all He lift his hand. — 
Where will ye set my tent ? where shall my temple 

stand? 
And all were dumb. Distracting silence spread 
Throughout that host as each were stricken dead. 
I made ye. I endowed ye. Ye are mine. [Thine ! 
Then trembled out each orb : Thine, God ! for ever 
All that ye have, within myself have I ; 
God, am complete ; full mexhaustibly. 
I dwell within myself, and ye in me, 
Not in yourselves ; I have infinity. 
The everything in all things is my throne ; 
Your might is my might, and your wealth mine own : 
'Tis by my power and sufferance that ye shine : 
I live in light and all your light is mine. [sphere 

Be dark ! said God. Night was. Each glowing 
Dulled. Night seemed everything and everywhere. 
Save that in utter space a feeble flare 
Told that the pits of hell were sunken there. 
Shuddered in fear the universe the while, 
Till God again embraced it wath a smile. 
And all things made were glad. Come now and hear, 
Ye worlds ! said God, the truth I thus make clear : 
My words are mercy, wherefore should ye fear ? 
And straight, obedient to his sacred will. 



FESTUS. 335 

One great concentrate globe they crowd to fill ; 

Systems and suns pour forth their glowing urns ; 

Full in the face of God the glory burns. 

Hearken, thou host ! thy trembling hope to raise, 

I to all Being thus make plain my ways ; — 

God, the creator, bade creation rise. 

And matter came in void like clouds in skies ; 

Lifeless and cold it spread throughout all space, 

And darkness dwelt and frowned upon its face : 

Chaos I bade depart this work of mine, 

And^straight the mighty elements disjoin. 

Then light I lit ; then order I ordained, 

And put the da,nce of atoms to an end. 

Matter I brake, and scattered into globes, 

And clad ye each in green and growing robes : 

Your sizes, places, forms, I fixed with laws, 

And wrought the link between effect and cause. 

Then formed I lives for each, which might inherit 

Will, reason, form, and power — not deathless spirit. 

Then I made spirits, things of Heavenly worth, 

Deathless, Divine. Round these, from every earth, 

I gathered forms and features fit for love. 

Trust, pleasure, power, and all I could approve. 

To every spirit I disclosed my name. 

My love, my might, and whence all Being came: 

To deathless souls I righteously decreed 

Accountability for thought, word, deed. 

Then every orb complete, along the sky, 

In glory, beauty, order, harmony, 

I launched. Souls, worlds did every thing possess 

Which could a mortal and immortal bless. 

To all the hope of happier state was given — 

For all I keep one common boundless Heaven. 

Ye all have freedom, and ye all do sin, 

Foj' ye are creatures : but ye all may win 



336 FESTUS. 

Life everlasting — everlasting joy, 

If ye do but the love of sin destroy : 

This only is offence ; for sin ye must 

Not by my will ; but weakness dwells with dust, 

Unless ye have sinned ye cannot enter Heaven. 

How shall a sinless creature be forgiven ? 

And by forgiveness only can ye claim 

Hope in my mercy, trust upon my name. 

I knew that ye would all to sin be given ; 

But I, even God, have paid your price to Heaven : 

And if ye will not journey on that way — 

The truth — the life — what do ye merit ? say ! 

Death is the gate of life, and sin, of bliss : 

Mark the dread truth I but mourn your deeds amiss. 

Cast off your guilt ! abandon folly's path ! 

Turn to the Lord your God ere hell His wrath ! 

Turn from your madness, wicked ones, and live ! 

Take, take the bliss which God alone can give. 

God, the Creator, me all beings own — 

God, the Redeemer, I will still be known — 

God, too, the Judge — the each — the three — the one. 

Again the Everlasting cried — Repent ! 

To bless or curse I am Omnipotent. 

And what art thou, created Being ? Round 

That world of worlds His arm the Almighty wound ; 

The bright immensity He raised, and pressed, 

All trembling, like a babe, unto His breast. 

There, in the Father's bosom rose again, 

Of filial love, the universal strain ; 

Strong and exultant — blissful, pure, sublime, [time. 

It rolled, and thrilled, and swelled in notes unknown to 

Think ye that I, who thus do ye maintain ; 

Thus always cherish ye, or all were vain — 

Ye all would drop into your native void. 

If by my hand ye were not held and buoyed : 



FESTUS. 337 

Think ye that I cannot uphold in Heaven, 

In righteous state, the souls I have forgiven ? 

Is this a weightier task ? with God, ' tis one 

To guide a sunbeam or create a sun — 

To rule ten thousand thousand worlds or none. 

Go, worlds ! said God, but learn, ere ye depart, 

My favoured temple is an humble heart ; 

Therein to dwell I leave my loftiest skies — 

There shall my holy of all holies rise ! 

He spake ; and swiftly, reverent to His will, 

Sprang each bright orb on high its sphere to fill. 

Glory to God ! they chanted as they soared — 

Father Almighty ! be Thou all-adored. 

Thou art the glory — we. Thine universe, 

Serve but abroad Thy lustre to disperse. 

Unsearchable, and yet to all made known ! 

The world at once Thy kingdom and Thy throne — 

Pity us, God ! nor chase us quite away 

Before Thy wrath, as night before the day. 

In Thee, our God, we live ; from Thee we came — 

The feeble sparks of Thine eternal flame. 

Thy breath from nothing filled us all at first, 

And could again as soon the bubble burst. 

In Thee, like motes in the sunbeam, we move ; 

Glow in Thy light, and gladden in Thy love. 

And midst this praise, earth was the only one 

Sullen remained in that grand union 

Of joy and harmony. Word spake she none. 

Clara. Earth only had been chidden. 

Festus. Not alone. 

High o'er all height, God gat upon His throne. 
Downward? He bent ; and, as a grain of sand, 
He lifted up our globe. Then from His hand. 
As 't were m pity, bowled the ingrate sphere, 
Which rushed like ruin down its dark career. 
22 



338 FESTUS. 

And lilgli the air's blue billows rolled and swelled 
On many an island world mine eye beheld. 

Clara. And where and what is he, this mighty 
friend, 
Who to thee, human, thus his might doth lend ? 
Who bore thee harmless, as thou sayst, through 

space, 
And brought thee front before thy Maker's face ? 

Festus. I know not where he is. It is but at times 
That he is with me ; but he aye sublimes 
His visits thus, by lending me his might 
O 'er things more bright than day, more deep than night. 
And he obeys me — whether good or ill 
His or my object, he obeys me still. 

Clara. O Festus ! I conjure thee to beware 
Lest thus the Evil one thy soul ensnare. 

Festus. What ! may not a free spirit have preferred 
A mortal to his heart — as thou thy bird 
Lovest, because it singeth of the sky, 
Although it is as far below thy soul 
As I ' neath an archangel's majesty ? 
God will protect the atom as the whole. 

Clara. Him, then, I pray : the spirit full must share 
The truths it feels with God Himself in prayer. 
So guide us, God ! in all our works and ways. 
That heart may feel, hand act, mouth shew Thy 

praise ; 
That when they meet, who love, and when they part, 
Each may be high in hope, and pure in heart : 
That they who have seen, and they who have but 

heard 
Of Thy great deeds, may both obey Thy word ! 

Festus. Unto the wise belongs the sphere of 
light. 
And to the spirit world-compelling might. 



FESTUS. 339 

Yon sun, now setting in the golden main, 
Shall count me his ere next he rise a^ain. 
Would that the earth had nothing fair to lure, 
Nor being more to answer or endure ! 
But I foresee, fore-suffer. Bound to earth. 
Wrecked in the deeps of Heaven, in Dearth's expiring 
birth! 

Scene — The San. 

Festus. Soul of the world, divine Necessity, 
Servant of God, and master of all things ! 
Here, in the Heaven of light's eternal noon. 
First see I all things clear : from end to end 
The divine cycle of the soul of man ; 
How spirit, soul, mind, life, flesh, feeling, mix. 
And how, withal they each reciprocate. 
As ocean, earth, air, fire and wind ; how flow 
The streams of feeling, and the cataracts 
Of passion ; mine and mountain, this of pride. 
And that of covetousness. Man I know ; 
The human universe, and the divine 
And central fate ; know all must be fufiUed 
Of nature that there is ; of sin and strife. 
Peace, righteousness, change, self-delusion, self- 
Destruction, ere the earth can take new life, 
Or man become the minister of God. 
The world and man are just reciprocal. 
Yet contrary. Spirit invadeth sense 
And carries captive Nature. Be this true, 
All good is Heaven, and all ill is Hell. 
All tilings are means for greater good. Thou, Suiiy 
Art just a giant slave, a god in bonds. 
The summit-flower of all created life 
Is its unition with Divinity, 



340 FESTUS. 

In essence, yet existence separate. 

High o 'er my own existence, here then I 

Look down upon the nature and the earth, 

Yet mine, whose separate and combined ends 

Have still to be evolved. How wide men miss, 

While in the lower world of soul and sense, 

In aiming even at life-ruling Truth — 

Formless as air, simple and one as Death. 

If Heaven and all its stars depend on earth, 

Then may eternity on time ; — not else. 

But since now earth is as a crumb of Heaven, 

And time an atom of eternity, 

Neither depends upon the other, both 

One essence being emanant from God, 

Whose flowings forth are aye and infinite, 

And radiant as the rivers of the skies. 

One only truth hath consequence, God's truth 

Inspirited in man. Mere human truth 

Or falsehood matters not. The world may act, 

Believe, or bless, or curse, as best it lists. 

Yet men expend life, solemnizing points 

Uncertain as the site of Paradise 

And area of Hades. Not the less, 

There is no disappointment we endure 

One half so great as that we are to ourselves. 

We make our hearts the centres of all hopes. 

All j)ower3, all rewards, remembering not 

That centres are imaginary points. 

Imaginary circles only too 

Are perfect ; therefore, draw life as we may. 

Round as a world, or as an atom round. 

And pure as virgin visionary's dream. 

Or perfect faith's regenerative wave — 

It fails to match the true invisible 

Whereof we labor. It is come to this. 



FESTUS. 341 

One state of life witli me hatli passed away. 

Aught lieuceforth that may matter be of doubt 

To me is matter of indifference. I 

Love only that is certain. Me no more 

The spirits of the bright invisible 

Shall throng round as the winds some mountain-top ; 

Nor watery lightfulness of ghostly eyes, 

Belonging heavenly forms informed with light, 

Impose their spell of record under pain. 

The inspiration quits me — it is gone — 

Like a retreating army from the land 

Which it hath wasted — the long gleaming mass. 

Snakelike, at last hath wound itself away, 

And left me weak and wretched. None again 

Of all the starry tribes of shining mien — 

Swifter than undulations of the light, 

A million in a moment, multiform 

As atomies of air, shall visit me ; 

Their word of leave is taken back — henceforth, 

Restricted to perfection, earth they quit. 

True, albeit, I loved them more than life ; 

I felt myself made sacred by their touch : — 

But they are gone, and there is nought on earth 

Left acceptable. Fiery shadows, hence ! 

I have outbraved ye once. It matters not. 

I have left all for one ; Truth's countless rays 

For Truth itself; the mean for the supreme, 

The dubitable for the throned power. 

Yet thus I cannot rest. The mightiest sphere 

Is not for man. The elements of mind 

And matter are proportioned in all worlds ; 

The father they and mother of all things. 

And earth hath favour over crowds of stars. 

I must reseek earth. Still what boots it now. 

To plunge in pleasure or to passion bow. 



S42 FESTUS. 

The very lion-lionej of the heart 

Which dwelleth in corruption ? Yet, perchance, 

'T were wisdom to extract it while we may. 

The oak, as lily, feels the lightest breeze. 

The ineradicable seed is sown 

Of love in life, and tide-like 't will have way 

O'er the impalaced prisoner of the breast. 

The thirst for power and knowledge still exist, 

And meet with dizzy mixture in the brain. 

If suffering could expiate offence. 

They who have most enjoyed have most atoned, 

It may be, humanly ; — but it cannot. 

Earth-like, the heart must undergo all change 

Ere the superior life be formed therein, 

The chastity of heart which loves but God. 

Life's sensuous warmth, the spirit's holy chill. 

Time's week-day work, have yet to be gone through. 

The hortus siccus of a Paradise 

Is all earth now can boast. To God belongs 

The autumn of all nature. But, alas ! 

Not yet can we o'ercome our nature here, 

Would we. If therefore passion strike the heart, 

Let it have length of line and plenteous play. 

The safety of superior principles 

Lies in exhaustion of the lower ones. 

However vast or violent. Men and angels 

Obey the order of existence. Fate ! 

Who seeks thee everywhere, will find thee there. 

Scene — A Drawing Room. 

Festus and Elissa. 

Festus. Who says he loves and is not wretched, 
lies ; 
Or that love is madness came mad from his mother. 



FESTUS. 343 

'T is tlie most reasonable thing in nature. 
What can we do but love ? It is our cup. 
Love is the cross and passion of the heart, 
Its end — its errand. In the name of God, 
"What made us love, Elissa? 

Elissa. I know not. 

I am not happy. I have wept all day. 

Festus. 'T was thine own fault. "What wouldst 
thou have of me ? 
I tell thee we must — no, I cannot tell thee. 

Nor can I bear those tears. Thou know'st I love 

thee, 
"Worship thee ; oh ! it 's a world more than worship, 
The cold obedience which we give to God. 
Elissa ! turn to me ! 

Elissa. I cannot. Go! — 

Festus. Thou hadst no need, no business to have 
loved me. « 

One loved thee well. 

Elissa. I could not help his loving 

Me, nor my loving thee. It was our fate. [death, 

Festus. Then Fate hath fee'd the passion for our 
And we are sold. 

Elissa. Well ! Let us die together. 

Together we will quit our bodies here. 

Festus. Together will we go to God and judgment. 

Elissa. Festus ! I will, I can love none but thee. 

Festus. Thou must not. 

Elissa. But I must. I cannot help it. 

Look at me — heart and arms, I am thine own. 
Thou knowest I am and have been. Wilt not love 

me? 
Festus ! mine own and only ! wilt thou not ? 
Have I done nothing, suffered and abandoned 
Nothing for thee ? Oh ! I was happy once ; 



344 FESTUS. 

Ere I knew tliee. Why wast thou kind to me ? 
Cruelly kind — or this had never been. 
But DOW thou mayst be cruel if thou wilt. 
Hate me ! still I am thine : disown me, thine ! 
Desert me ! no — thou canst not. I am thine ; 
I am ! look at me, Festus ! look at me ! 
I am half blind with weeping ; and mine eyes 
Have not a tear left in them. But I know 
How it will end. Thou wilt leave me as I am — 
Loveless and lonely. 

Festus. Nay, not so ; my love 

Shall aye be with thee, and my soul with both. 
But we must part ! Think that I come again. 

Elissa. Not be again with thee ! nor thou with me ! 
It is too much. Let me go mad or die. 

Festus. Live, mine Elissa ! and thou shalt live 
with me, 
And I will love thee ever as I now love. 
Wilt thou? 

Elissa. Oh ! make me happy ! say I may 
BeUeve thee. 

Festus. May ? Thou must. 

Elissa. Say it again ! 

I cannot know too often of my bliss. 
But dost thou love me ? tell me — wilt thou love me ? 

Festus. Since I have known thee I have done 
nought else. 
All hours not spent with thee are blanks between stars. 
I love thee ! love thee ! love thee ! madly love thee ! 
Oh ! thou hast drank my heart dry of all love ! 
It will be empty to aught after thee. 
Come, dry thine eyes. Blessings on those sweet eyes ! 
By Heaven ! they might a moment win the glance 
Of any seraph gazing not on God. [a tear ! 

Elissa. No wonder they drew thine. There is 



1 



FESTUS. 345 

Festus. Ay; strange and startling is the first 
hot tear 
That we have shed for years ; and which hath lain 
Like to a water-fairy in the eye's 
Blue depths — spell-bound in the socket of the soul. 
Death brought it not — pain brought it not — nor 

shame ; 
Nor penitence — nor pity — nor despair : 
Nothing but love could. For a fearful time 
We can keep down the floodgates of the heart, 
But»we must draw them sometime ; or it will burst 
Like sand this brave embankment of the breast, 
And drain itself to dry death. When pride thaws — 
Look for floods ! 

Elissa. Now, thou wilt be very kind 

Vvlien next we meet ? Our time will soon be gone. 
Festus. I cannot think of time : — there is no 
time! 
Time ! time ! I hate thee — with the hate of Hell 
For aught that 's good — but thou art infamous. 
I will give thee half my immortality 
To keep back for one hour. Leave me, to-night; 
And wither me, to-morrow, like a weed ! 
Elissa. Where is he now ? 
Festus. In Hell, — I hope. 

Elissa. What mean'st thou ? 

He wronged thee never. Say, when cometh he ? 
Festus. To-night. 

Elissa. He comes to sever us, like fate. 

But shall he part us ? 

Festus. Never ! Let him part 

The sun in two first. 

Elissa. It was ever thus : 

I am made to make unhappy all around me. 

Festus. I will not hear of thy being wrong, — 
it is I. 



346 FESTUS. 

I am the false usurper. And since one 
Out of the three must be a sacrifice, 
Let it be me. It shall be. 

Elissa. Thou didst swear, 

Even now, to love me ever. 

Festus. Be it so. 

I have sworn — and now and then I keep my oath — 
I will not give thee up, so save me, God ! 

Elissa. Oh ! we have been too happy, have we not? 
But, now I think of it, we might have known 
It could not last. Woe follows bliss as close 
As death does life — as naturally, may be. 
We might have thought — 

Festus. I never thought about it. 

My love — Elissa ! ah, how cold thy hand is ! 
Here — warm it on my heart. Nay, let it be. 
The hand that is on the heart is on the soul. 
And it is thus some moments take the wheel. 
And steer us through eternity. Believe me. 
Could I but crowd life, love too, in one throb, 
I would beat it out, this moment, in thy hand. 
And would die blessing. 

Elissa. Give me my hand back ! 

Festus. My sweet one ! if this heart hath warmed 
thy hand. 
It hath not beaten in vain — it but returns 
A pleasure, and a passion, and a power : 
For oft at touch of thine this bosom burns. 

Elissa. Love hath no end except itself. We only 
Felt we loved and were happy. 

Festus. Ah ! It was so. 

Elissa. Our sole misfortune is, we have been happy : 
We never shall be happy here again. 

Festus. Nay, say not so. Let us be happy now. 
Happy ? To fling aside thy wavy locks, 



^ 



FESTUS. 347 

And feed mine eyes on thy wliite brow — to look 

Deep in thine eyes till I feel mine have drank 

Full of that soft wet fire wliich floats in thine — 

Eyes which I ne'er would leave — yet when most near, 

Then most astray I — oh ! to lay my cheek 

Upon thy sweet and swelling bosom thus ; 

"Where midst upon the beauty of thy breast 

Sits love like God between the cherubim — 

To crop the red budding kisses from thy lips — 

To name thee, make thee, but one moment, mine — 

Dehghts me more than all that earth can lend 

The good or bad — or Heaven can give the saved. 

One long wild kiss of sunny sweets, till each 

Lack breath, the lips half bleed, and, come — thou 

knowest ! 
I ask but one such — let it last for ever ! 

Elissa. Now, Festus ! this is wrong. 

Festus. IVhat ? — what is wrong .'' 

Shall my blood never bound beneath beauty's touch. 
Heart throb, nor eye thaw with hers — when her tears 
Drop, quick and bright, upon the glowing brow 
Plunged in her bosom — because, forsooth, it is 

wrong ? 
Let it be wrong ! it is wrong, it is wretchedness 
That I would lose both sense and soul to suffer. 

Elissa. How dare we love each other as we do ? 

Festus. Give me some wine ! more — more, love ! 

Elissa. Drink and drain 

The bowl ! the vintage of a hundred years 
Would never slake the memory of shame ; 
Nor quench the thirst of folly. 

Festus. Fill again ! 

My beauty ! sing to me, and make me glad. 
Thy sweet words drop upon the ear as soft 
As rose- leaves on a well : and I could listen, 



348 FESTUS. 

As tliougli tlie immortal melody of Heaven 

Were wrought into one word — that word a whisper, 

That whisper all I want from all I love, 

Elissa. I am not happy, and I cannot sing. 
Thou lookest happy. I wish I were so. 

Festus. They tell us that the body of the sun 
Is dark, and hard, and hollow ; and that light 
Is but a floating fluid veiling him. 
Ah ! how oft, and how much, the heart is like him ! 
Despite the electric light it lives and hides in. 

Servant entering. A singer who was told to come 

Festus. Wilt hear him ? [is here. 

Elissa. Yes, love — gladly. 

Festus. Shew him in. 

What have you there ? 

Singer. Oh ! I think, everything. 

Festus. Well, anything will be enough this once. 
The last new song ? 

Singer. Certainly ; here it is. [^Sings. 

Oh ! let not a lovely form 

With feeling fill thine eye ; 
Oh ! let not the bosom warm 

At love-lorn lady's sigh — 
For how false is the fairest breast ; 

How little worth, if true : 
And who would wish possessed, 

What all must scorn or rue ? 
Then pass by beauty with looks above ; 
Oh ! seek never — share never — woman's love ! 

Oh ! let not a planet-like eye 
Imbeam its tale on thine ; 
In truth 'tis a lie — though a lie 
Scarce less than truth divine. 



FESTUS. 34:9 

And the liglit of its look on the young 

Is wildfire with the soul ; 
Ye follow and follow it long, 

But find nor good nor goal. 
Then pass by beauty with looks above ; 
Oh ! seek never — share never — woman's love ! 

Elissa. Methinks I must have heard that voice 
Festus. And I. [before. 

Elissa. Where ? 

Festus. I forget. 

-Elissa. And so do I. 

Singer. Oh ! let not a wildering tongue 

Weave bright webs o'er thine ear ; 
Nor thy spirit be said nor sung 

To the air of smile or tear. 
And say it hath melody far 

More than the spheres of Heaven, 
Thou";h to man and the Morning star 

They sang, Ye be forgiven ! 
Yet pass by beauty with looks above ; 
Oh ! seek never — share never — woman's love 1 
Oh ! let not a soft bosom pour 

Itself in thine ! It is vain. 
Love cheateth the heart, oh ! be sure, 

Worse even than wine the brain. 
Then snatch up thy lip from the brim, 

Nor drain its dreamlike death ; 
For Love loves to lie down and dim 

The bright soul with his breath. 
Then pass by beauty with looks above ; 
Oh ! seek never — share never — woman's love ! 

Festus. Come hither, man I I wish to look at 
thee, 
A moment. No ! it can't be. Yet I have seen 



350 FESTUS. 

Some one much like thee. 

Elissa. It was a brother, may be? 

Singer. I have none, lady. Have ye done Tvith 
me ? [of you. 

Festus. Yes — go! and we will take your song 

Servant. Here, follow me ! \^They go. 

Festus. Weeping again, my love ? 

Thou art, by turns, the proudest and the humblest 
Creature I ever met with. The least thing 
Dints thy soft heart. Come, cheer thee, sweet one — 

do! 
Oh ! if to say, I love, laid all the sins 
Of all the worlds upon me, I would say it 
Till I was out of breath : and will, till I die. 

Elissa. If Love be blind, it must be by his tears ; 
For love and sorrow alway come together — 
Love with his sister, sorrow, by the hand. 

Festus. Nay, I will conquer thee again to smile, 
Or lose my right to love thee. Let me kneel ! 
Come ! I will have no other gods but thee ; 
To none but thee will I bow down and worship; 
Thy bosom is mine altar — and thine eyes 
Are the divinity that preys upon me. 
Oh ! cruel as the week-day gods of old. 
Thou wilt have human victims ; not content 
With tears and kisses — fire and water — thou 
Wilt have the suljtler element of life ; 
Thou needs must live on immortality ! 
Here — take me then ! I offer up myself 
A sacrifice to thee. 

Elissa. Thou foolish boy ! 

Wliere will thy passionate folly end ? I love thee. 

Festus. Well then, let me conjure thee ! let me 
swear 
By some sweet oath t'lat shall to both be holy : — ^| 



FESTUS. 351 

Bj arms whicli hold, bj knees which worship thee ! 

By that dark eye, the dark divine of beauty, 

Yet trembling o'er its lid all tears and light — 

Glory and eye of eyes which yet have shone ! 

By this lone heart, which longeth for a mate ! 

By love's sweet will, and sweeter way ! by all 

I love — by thyself, myself! let me, let me, 

Let me — but draw the lightning from thine eye : -— 

Kisses are my conductors : do not frown ; 

Nor look so temptingly angry. I was but trifling. 

The cold calm kiss which cometh as a gift, 

Nofa necessity, is not for me, 

"Whose bliss, whose woe, whose life, whose all is love. 

Elissa. We both wrong whom we love, love 
whom we wrong. 

Festus. But I am as a dog that fondles o'er 
!A.nd hcks the wound he dies of. Would I could 
Suffer or feel enough of love to kill ! [love. 

Elissa. Thou lovest one whom thou oughtst not to 

Festus. And what of that ? Love hath its own be- 
Own worship — own morality — own laws : [Hef — 
And it were better that all love were sin 
Than that love were not. It must have by-laws — 
Exceptions to the rules of earth and Heaven — 
For it means not the good it doth nor ill, 

Elissa. It is wrong — it is unjust — unkind. 

Festus. It is. 

But I am half mad and half dead with it. 
I have loved thee till I can love nought beside. 
My heart is drenched with love as with a cloud. 
I have too much of life that I scarce can live. 
I hate all things but thee — shun men, like snakes — 
Women, like pits. To me thou art all woman — 
All life — all love and more than all my kind. 
I love thee more than I shall love and look for 



352 FESTUS. 

Death, if lie takes thee from me. But who dreams 
Of death and thee together ! 

Elissa. I do oft : 

And as oft wish dreams would, for once, come true. 
The best of all things are dreams realised. . 

Festus. Dreams such as gods may dream thy soul 
possess 
For ever in the Hadean Eden — Death : 
But bless thy lover with reality ! 
Then, thou shalt live for ever, and with me. 
I have gone round the compass of all life. 
And can find nought worthy of thee. I but feel, 
That were I — as I ought to be — a god, 
I would just sacrifice the sun to thee, 
In bright and burning honour of thy love. 
Miracles are not miracles with gods. 

Elissa. Dearer thou canst not be to me, unless 
I die in telling how dear. 

Festus. My Elissa! 

I — I am bewildered : open but thine arms ! 
^ And make me happy and all wise of thee. 
My soul is stung with thy beauty to the quick. 
Oh ! but thou art too good, or else too bad : 
Be colder or be warmer ! 

Elissa. Leave me ! 

Festus. WeU; 

It is most cruel — first, to light the heart 
"With love completely — boundlessly ; and ther 
Moonlike, slowly to edge aside, and leave 
One only little line of all so bright. 
Once — teach and unteach — nay, to use more arts 
Than would outdo the devil of his throne, 
To make us ignorant of all we know ; — 
To take the heart to pieces carefully — 
For it is love alone can build the heart — 




FESTUS. 353 

To root the tree up neath whose shade we have lived, 
And give us back a sliver. Let it die ! 

Elissa. Hark ! he is cominn;- 

Festus. No ! He cannot come ; 

For I have driven an oath into his heart, 
And I have hung a curse about his neck 
Might sink the prince of air into the centre, [selves. 

Elissa. All I have done, I have done to save our- 

Festus. Then let us perish ! But unless we sia 
We cannot perish. Have ! Have ! cries a voice, 
As of a crowd, within me. I would do aught 
To throw this dark desire which wrestles with me. 
It answers not to hold it at arras-length : 
It must be hurled, dashed, trampled down. — I can't. 
Ladj ! how long am I to love thee thus ? 
Never did angel love its Heaven — nor God 
Man, as I thee, 

Elissa. I feared how it would end. 

Can nothing less than sinning sate the soul ? 
Can nothing but perdition serve to nest 
Our hearts, after so sweet a flight of love ? [shewn 

Festus. The might and truth of hearts is never 
But in loving those whom we ought not to love — 
Or cannot have. The wrong, the suffering is 
Its own reward. 

Elissa. Let me not wrong thee, Festus. 

Let me not think I have thought too well of thee. 
Be as thou wast. What will become of us ? [from me ! 
Festus. Be mine ! be me ! be aught but so far 
Give me thyself! It is not enough for me, 
That I have gazed and doted on thee till 
Mine eye is dazzled and my brain is dizzied : 
Thou must exhaust all senses ; not enough 
That in long dreams my soul hath spread itself 
Like water over every living line 
23 



354 FESTUS. 

Of this sweet make, dreaming thou wast all lips ; 
Nor that it now sinks in the face of thee, 
Like a sea-sunset, hot and tired with the long, 
Long day of love ; — it is not enough. I must 
Have more — have all ! For I have sworn to fill 
Mine arms with bliss — thus — thus — thus ! 

Elissa. Festus ! 

Lucifer entering. Friend! 

Did ye not know me ? It was I who sang. 

Elissa. It was he ! 

Festus. Thou — 

Lucifer. Hush I thou art not to utter what 
I am. Bethink thee ; it was our covenant. 
I said that I would see thee once again. 

Elissa. Thou didst ; and I must thank thee. 

Lucifer. Hear me now ! 

Thou knowest well v/hat once I was to thee : 
One who for love of one I loved — for thee — 
"Would have done or borne the sins of all the world ; 
Who did thy bidding at thy lightest look ; 
And had it been to have snatched an angel's crown 
Off her bright brow as she sat singing, throned, 
I would have cut these heartstrings that tie down, 
And let my soul have sailed to Heaven, and done 

it- 
Spite of the thunder and the sacrilege, 
And laid it at thy feet. I loved thee, lady ! 
I am one whose love was greater than the world's, 
And might have vied with God's ; a boundless ring, 
All pressing on one point — that point thy heart. 
And now — but shall I call on my revenge ? — 
It is at hand in armies. Thou art a woman ; 
And that is saying the best and worst of thee. 
I know that vengeance is the part of God : 
And can make myself almighty for the moment. 



FESTUS. 355 

For wliat ? for notliinf]^. Thou art utter nothm^. 
Thus it was always with me when with thee ; 
And I forget my purpose and my wrongs, 
In looking and in loving." But I hate thee. 
To say that thou didst love me ! Curse the air 
That bore the sound to me ! Forgive me, God ! 
If I blaspheme, it is not at Thee, but her. 
I'd not believe her were she saved in Heaven ! 
There is no blasphemy in love but doubt ; 
No sin, but to deceive. 

Festus. Then is she sinless, [more? 

She loved thee first — then me. "What wouldst thou 
Thy heart's embrace, though close, was snake-like 

cold ; 
And mine was warm, and what is more, was welcome. 

Lucifer. Patience ! I spake not, cared not, 
thought not, of thee. — 
Now I forgive thy having loved another ; 
And I forgive — but never mind it now ; 
I have forgiven so much, there is nothing left 
To make more words about ; but, for the future, 
I will as soon attempt to entice a star 
To perch upon my finger ; or the wind 
To follow me like a dog, as think to keep 
A woman's heart again. Answer me not ! 
L(!t me say what I have to say and go. 
Thou art all will and passion ; that is thine 
Excuse and condemnation. 

Elissa. While that will 

Was love to thee, I saw no harm, nor thou. 
And if my heart hath gained, it was not I 
Who put it on — nor could help it going wrong. 

Lucifer. Oh ! I have heard, what rather than 
have heard, [words, 

I would have stopped mine ears with thunder : 



356 FESTUS. 

That have gone singing through my soul, like arrows 
Through the air. 

Elissa. I never will defend myself. 

For I despise defence like accusation — 
And now look down on them and thee together. 

Lucifer. Now let us part, or I shall die of wrath. 
Be my estrangement perfect as my love ! 

Elissa. Part then ! 

Lucifer. Thank God it is for eternity ! 

Elissa. I do. Away. 

Lucifer. Festus ! I wait for thee. 

Festus. Come, thou art not the first deceived in 
Yet love is not so much love as a dream, [love ; 

Which hath, it seems, like guerdon with the thing — 
The staring madness when we wake and find 
That what we have loved, must love, is not that 
We meant to love. Perhaps I profited 
Too much by thy good lessons. Go ! I follow. 

Lucifer going. Now therefore would I wager, 
and I might, 
The great archangel's trump to a dog-Avhistle, 
That whatsoever happens, worse ensues. 

Festus. Forgive me, love, for having brought 
this on thee. 

Elissa. The love which giveth all, forgiveth 
aught. 
And thou art more to me than earth or Heaven. 
They have but given life : thou gavest me love, 
The lord of life — thou, ray life ! love, and lord I 
Take me again ! my kindest — dearest — best ! 
Him who hath gone I never loved like thee. ^^ 

There was a desolation in his eye ^^m 

I could not brook to look on ; for it seemed " 

As tliough it ate the light out of mine own. j 

I think that thou dost love me. 



FESTUS. ^ ,057 

Festus. ' And I think, 

For perfect love there should be but one god — 
One worshipper, 

Elissa. We know the gods of old 

Worshipped each other — equal deities. 
For the sweet poets surely spake the truth 
About the gods ; they dare not speak but truth. 

Festus. Who but thyself would speak of poetry, 
While thou art by ? who art the very breathing 
Beauty which bards may seek ideally. 
And dost thou, then, believe the gods of old — 
Those toys and playthings of an infant world ? 

Elissa. If I do not believe, I do not scorn them. 
Nay, I could mourn for them and pray for them. 
I can scorn nothing which a nation's heart 
Hath held, for ages, holy : for the heart 
Is alike holy in its strength and weakness : 
It ought not to be jested with, nor scorned. 
All things, to me, are sacred that have been. 
And, though earth, like a river, streaked with blood, 
Wliicli tells a long and silent tale of death, 
May blush her history and hide her eyes, 
The past is sacred — it is God's : not ours. 
Let her and us do better if we can. [thine eyes, 

Festus. There are whole veins of diamonds in 
Might furnish crowns for all the Queens of earth. 
Oh ! I could sooner set a price on the sun, 
My love, than on thy lightest look. Look on me ! 
Speak ! if it only be to say thou wilt not. 
Look ! I would rather look on thee one minute, 
Than paradise for a whole day — such days 
As are in Heaven. I love thee more and more. 

Elissa. To love, and say we love — to suck the 
Out of the heart, and put its poison on [sting 

The tongue. 



358 FESTUS. 

Festus. Yet it is luxury to feel 
Inflamed — to glow within ourselves, like fire-opals. 
Now, stay thy pretty little tuneful tongue, 
Nor silver o'er thy syllables ! They will not 
Pass. No, not one more word ! I must away ; 
I have staid too long, already, for my word. 

Elissa. I cannot part with thee : nay, sit again ! 
Parted from thee I feel like one half riven. 
And my soul acheth to spring to — as thus ! 

Festus. There ! let me leave love ! let me loose 
these arms. 
Another time and, ah ! well — never mind ! 
We shall be happier — I know we shall. 
Thou hast been mine — thou art mine — and thou 
shalt be ! 

Elissa. My life is one long loving thought of thee. 
If any ask me what I do, I could say 
I love, and that is all. 

Festus. It is enough. 

One kiss ! another ! one more — there ! farewell ! 

[ Goes. 

Elissa. And he is gone ! and the world seems 
gone with him. 
Shine on, ye Heavens ! why can ye not impart 
Light to my heart ? Have ye no feeling in ye ? 
"Why are ye bright when I am so unhappy ? 
But oh ! I would not change my woes for thrice 
The bliss of others, since they are for thee, love. 
Our very wretchedness grows dear to us 
Wlien suffering for one we love. Sweet stars ! 
I cannot look upon your loveliness 
Without sadness, for ye are too beautiful ; 
And beauty makes unhappy : so men say. 
Ye stars ! it is true — we read our fate in ye. 
Bright through all ages, are ye not happy there ? 



FESTUS. 359 

fVith years, many as your light-rays are ye not 

Immortal ? Space-pervading, oh ! ye must be, 

Spirit-like, infinite. All-being God ! 

Who art in all things, and in whom all are ! — 

And it is thus we worship Thee the most ; 

When heart to heart with one we love we are gods ; — 

Let us believe that if Thou gavest earth 

For our bodies, then the stars were for our souls ; 

For perfect beauty and unbounded love ! 

Let us believe they look upon us here 

As their mheritors, and save themselves 

For us, as we for Thee, and Thou for all ! 

« 

Scene — Garden and Bower hy the Sea. 

Elissa alone. Come, Festus, let me think on 
thee, my love ! 
And fold the thought of thee unto my soul. 
Until it fills it, and is one with it. [be ; 

All ! these poor arms are far from where they should 
And this heart farther still. INIine only love ! 
Why art thou thus so long away from me ? 
I have whispered it unto the southern wind 
And charged it with my love : why should it not 
Carry that love to thee as air bears light? 
And thou hast said I was all light to thee. 
The stars grow bright together, and for aye. 
Lover-like, watch each other ; and though apart. 
Like us, they fill each other's eyes with love 
And beauty : and mine only fill with tears. 
Oh ! life is less than nothing without love ! 
And what is love without the embrace of love ? 
I would give worlds for one more ere I die. 
Festus ! come to me. I do think I am dying. 
Let me bequeath my life to thee, that so, 



360 FESTUS. 

In doubling thine, I may live alway with thee. 

I know that I am dying. It is mj heart 

Which makes me live that kills me. But I want 

To see him ere I do die. Oh ! he will come ! 

He must know how I love him. It is lono- — 

Long since I saw him : I am ill with waiting. 

And I will fancy him coming to me now — 

Now he is thinking of me, loving me — 

He sees me — flies to me, half out of breath — 

His hand is on my arm — he looks on me — 

And puts my long locks backwards — God ! Thy ban 

lyies upon waking dreams. To weep and sleep — 

Dream — wake, and find one's only one hope false,— 

Is what we can bear, for we do endure it. 

And bear with Heaven still. Just one year ago, 

I watched that large bright star where it is now : — 

Time hath not touched its everlasting lightning, 

Nor dimmed the glorious glances of its eye — 

Nor passion clouded it — nor any star 

Eclipsed — it is the leader still of Heaven. 

And I who loved it then can love it now ; 

But am not what I was, in one degree. 

Calm star ! who was it named thee Lucifer, [him ? 

From him who drew the third of Heaven down with 

Oh ! it was but the tradition of thy beauty ! 

For if the sun hath one part, and the moon one, 

Thou hast the third part of the host of Heaven — 

Which is its power — which power is its beauty ! 

Lucifer. It was no tradition, lady, but of truth ! 

Elissa. I thought we parted last to meet no 
more. 

Lucifer. It was so lady ; but it is not so. 

Elissa. Am I to leave, or thou, then ? 

Lucifer. Neither, yet. 

I mean that thou shouldst fear me and obey. 



FESTUS. 361 

Elissa. And wlio art thou that I should fear and 
serve? 

Lucifer. I am the morning and the evening star, 
The star thou lovest and thy lover too ; 
I am that star ! as once before I told thee, 
Though thou wouldst not believe me, but I am 
A spirit, and a star — a power — an ill 
Which doth outbalance being. Look at me ! 
Am I not more than mortal in my form ? 
Millions of years have circled round my brow 
Like worlds upon their centres ; — still I live ; 
And age but presses with a halo's weight. 
This single arm hath dashed the light of Heaven ; 
This one hand drao:";ed the an^rels from their 

thrones : — 
Am I not worthy to have loved thee, lady ? 
Thou mortal model of all Heavenliness ! 
And yet I have abandoned all these spoils. 
Cowered my powers, and becalmed my course. 
And stooped from the high destruction of the skies 
For thee, and for the youth who loveth thee — 
And is lost with ye : ye are both, both — lost ! 
Thou hast but served the purpose of the Fiend. 
And thou art but the vessel of the sin 
Whose poison hath made drunk a soul to death ; 
And he hath drunk ; and thou art useless now. 
And it is for this I come ; to bid thee die ! 

Elissa. I said that I was dying. God is good. 
The Heavens grow darker as they grow the purer : 
And both, as we do near them ; so, near death, 
The soul grows darker and diviner, hourly. 
Could I love less I should be happier ! 
But it is always to that mad extreme. 
That death alone appears tlie fitting finish 
To bliss like that my spirit presses for. 



362 FESTDS. 

Lucifer. Thy death shall be as gentle as thy life. 
I will not hurt thee, for I loved thee once. 
And thy sweet love, upon my burning breast, 
Fell like a snowflake on a fevered lip. 
Thy soul shall pass out of thee like a dream. 
One moment more, and thou shalt wake in Heaven ! 

Elissa. I ever thought thee to be more than 
mortal. 
And if thou art thus mighty, grant me this ! — 
Since now we love no more — as friend to friend — 
Bring him I love, one moment, ere I die. 

Lucifer. Thou judgest well; I am all but al- 
mighty. 
And I have stretched my strength unto its limits 
To satisfy the heart of him w^ho loves thee : 
In proof whereof, did I not give up thee. 
Because he loved thee ? I have given him all things 
Body or spirit could desire or have. 
And even, at this moment, now he reigns 
King of the sun, and monarch of the seven 
Orbs that surround him — leaving earth alone — 
The earth is in good keeping as it is. 
I know that he is hasting hither now ; 
But may not see thee living. 

Elissa. It is not thou 

Who takest life : it is God, whose I shall be ! — 
And his, with God, whom here my heart deifies. 
I glory in his power as in his love. 
But I will, will see him while I am alive. 
I hear him — he is come — it is he ! it is he ! 

Lucifer. Die ! thou shalt never look on him 



agam. 



Elissa. My love! haste, Festus! I am dying — 
Lucifer. Dead ! 

A word could kill her. She hath gone to Heaven. 



FESTUS. 3G3 

Festus. Fiend ! Avhat is tliis ? Elissa — she is 
not dead. 

Lucifer. She is. I bade her die, as I had reason. 

Festus. Now do I hate thee and renounce for 
Ahhor thee — go ! [ever ! — 

Lucifer. Who seeks the other iirst ? 

I am gone. 

Festus. Away, Fiend ! Leave me ! My Elissa ! 

Scene — A Library and Balcony — A Summer 
^ Night, 

Festus alone. The last high upward slant of sun 
on the trees, 
Like a dead soldier's sword upon his pall, 
Seems to console earth for the glory gone. 
Oh ! I could weep to see the day die thus ; 
The death-bed of a day, how beautiful ! 
Linger, ye clouds, one moment longer there ; 
Fan it to slumber with your golden wings ! 
Like pious prayers ye seem to soothe its end. 
It will wake no more till the all-revealing day ; 
When, like a drop of water, greatened bright 
Lito a shadow, it shall shew itself 
With all its little tyrannous things and deeds, 
Unhomed and clear. The day hath gone to God, — ■ 
Straight, like an infant's spirit, or a mocked 
And mournino- messeno;er of <n'ace to man. 
Would it had taken me too on its wing ! 
My end is nigh. Would I might die outright ! 
And slip the coil without waiting its unwind. 
Wlio that hath lain lonely on a high hill. 
In the imperious silence of full noon. 
With nothing but the clear dark sky about him, 
Like God's hand laid upon the head of earth — 



364 FESTUS. 

But liath expected that some natural spirit 

Should start out of the universal air — 

And gathering his cloudy robe around him, 

As one in act to teach mysterious things, 

Explain that he must die ? — that having got 

As high as earth can lift him up — as far 

Above that thing, the world, as flesh can mount — 

Over the tyrant wind, and the clouded lightning, 

And the round rainbow — and that having gained 

A loftier and a more mysterious beauty 

Of feeling — something like a starry darkness 

Seizing the soul — say he must die — and vanish ? 

Who hath not, at such moments, felt as now 

I feel, that to be happy we must die ? 

And here I rest — above the world and its ways ; 

The wind, opinion — and the rainbow, beauty — 

And the thunder, superstition — I am free 

Of all : — save death, what want I to be happy ? 

And shall I leave no trace, then, of my life ? 

The soul begetteth shadows of itself 

Which do outlive their author : and are more 

Substantial than all nature, and the red 

Realities of flesh and blood, as echo « 

Is longer, louder, further than the voice 

Of man can thunder, or his ear report. 

And oft the world hath Deified its echoes. 

A year ! — and Avho shall find them ? Can it be 

The mind's works have been deathless — not the 

mind ? 
Or will the world's immortals die with me ? — 
The sages, and the heroes, and the bards, — 
Whose verse set to the thunder of the seas. 
Seems as immortal as their ceaseless music ! 
God ! I fain would deem Thou livest not : 
And that this world hath sprung up from chance seed, 



FESTUS. 365 

Unknown to thee ; and is not reckoned on. 
Hell solves all doubts. — Come to me, Lucifer ! 

Lucifer. Lo ! I am here : and ever prompt 
When called for. 
How speed thy general pleasures ? 

Festus. Bravely ! joys 

Are bubble-Uke — what makes them, bursts them, 

too. 
And, like the milky way, there ! dim with stars, 
The soul that numbers most will shine the less. 

Lucifer. No matter — mind it not ! 

Festus. Yet, joys of earth ! 

That ye should ruin spirits is too hard. 
Who can avoid ye ? who can say ye nay ? 
Or take his eyes from off ye ? Avho so chaste ? 

Lucifer. They have well-nigh unimmortalized 
myself. 

Festus. Yet have they nought to sate the pining 
Which doth enamour immortality. [spirit 

No ! they are all base, impure, ruinous — 
The harlots of the heart. Forgive me, God ! 
I am getting too forlorn to hve — too waste. 
Aught that I can or do love, shoots by me, 
Like a train upon an iron road. And yet 
I need not now reproach mine arm or aim ; 
For I have winged each pleasure as it flew. 
How swift or high soever in its flight. 
We cannot hve alone. The heart must have 
A prop without, or it will fall and break. 
But nature's common joys are common cheats. 
As he who sails southwards, beholds, each night, 
New constellations rise, all clear, and fair ; 
So, o'er the waters of the world, as we 
Reach the mid zone of life, or go beyond, 
Beauty and bounty still beset our course ; 



3G6 FESTUS. 

New beauties wait upon us eveiy where ; 
New liiihts enliditen and new worlds attract. 
But I have seen and I have done with aU. 
Friendship hath passed me hke a ship at sea ; 
And I have seen no more of it. I had 
A friend with whom, in boyhood, I was wont 
To learn, think, laugh, weep, strive, and love, 

together ; 
For we were alway rivals in all things — 
Together up high springy hills, to trace 
A runnel to its birthplace — to pursue 
A river — to search, haunt old ruined towers, 
And muse in them — to scale the cloud-clad hills 
While thunders murmured in our very ear ; « 
To leap the lair of the live cataract. 
And pray its foaming pardon for the insult ; 
To dare the broken tree-bridge across the stream 
To crouch behind the broad white waterfall. 
Tongue of the glen, like to a hidden thought — 
Dazzled, and deafened, yet the more delighted ; 
To reach the rock which makes the fall and pool ; 
There to feel safe, or not to care if not ; 
To fling the free foot over my native hills, 
Which seemed to breathe the bracing breeze we 

loved 
The more it lifted up our loosened locks. 
That nou2;ht mio;ht be between us and the skies ; 
Or, hand in hand, leap, laughing, with closed eyes, 
In Trent's death-loving deeps ; yet was she kind 
Ever to us ; and bare us buoyant up. 
And followed our young strokes, and cheered us on — - 
Even as an elder sister bending above 
A child, to teach it how to order its feet — 
As quick we dashed, in reckless rivalry. 
To reach, perchance, some long green floating flag — 



FESTUS. 367 

Just when the sun's hot lip first touched the stream, 

Keddening to be so kissed ; and we rejoiced, 

As breasting it on we went over depth and death. 

Strong in the naked strife of elements, 

Toying with danger in as little fear 

As with a maiden's ringlets. And oft, at night, 

Bewildered and bewitched by favorite stars, 

We would breathe ourselves amid unfooted snow?, 

For there is poetry where aught is pure ; 

Or over the still dark heath, leap along, like harts, 

Through the broad moonlight ; for we felt where'er 

We' leapt the golden gorse, or lowly ling, 

We could not be from home. — That friend is gone. 

There's the whole universe before our souls. 

Where shall we meet next ? Shall we meet again ? 

Oh ! might it be in some far happy world. 

That I might light upon his lonely soul, [hills, 

Hard by some broad blue stream, where high the 

Wood-bearded, sweep to its brink — musing, as wont, 

With love-like sadness, upon sacred things; 

For much in youth we loved and mused on them. 

To say what ought to be to human wills. 

And measure mortals sternly; to explore 

The bearings of men's duties and desires ; 

To note the nature and the laws of mind ; 

To balance good with evil ; and compare 

The nature and necessity of each ; 

To long to see the ends and end of things ; 

Or, if no end there be, the endless, then, 

As suns look into space ; these were our joys — 

Our hopes — our meditations — our attempts. 

And, if I have enjoyed more love than others. 

It is but superior suffering, and is more 

Than balanced by the loss of one we love. 

And love, itself, hath passed. One fond fair girl 



368 FESTUS. 

Remains ; one only, and she loves me still. 

But it is not love I feel : it is pure kindness. 

How shall I find another like my last ? 

The golden and the gorgeous loveliness — 

A sunset beauty ! Ah '. I saw it set. 

My heart, alas ! set with it. I have drained 

Life of all love, as doth an iron rod 

The Heaven's of lightning ; I have done with it, 

And all its waking woes, and dreamed-of joys. 

No more shall beauty star the air I live in ; 

And no more will I wake at dead of night, 

And hearken to the roaring of the wind, 

As though it came to carry one away — 

Claiming for sin. Ah ! I am lost forever. 

To earn the world's delights by equal sins. 

Seems the great aim of life — the aim succeeds. 

Here it is madness, and perdition there. 

And, but for thee, I had renounced these joys — ^ 

These cursed joys my soul now writhes among, 

Like to a half-crushed reptile on a rose : — 

Ay, but for thee, I might have now been happy ! 

Lucifer. Why charge, why wrong me thus ? 
When first I knew thee, 
I deemed it thine ambition to be damned. 
Thine every thought, almost, had gone from good, 
As far as finite is from infinite ; 
And then thou wast as near to me as now. 
Thou hadst declined in worship, and in wish 
To please thy God ; nor wouldst thou e'er repent. 
Wliat more need I to justify attempt ? 
Have I shrunk back from granting aught I promised ? 
Thy love of knowledge — is that satisfied ? 

Festus. It is. Yet knowledge is a doubtful boon — 
Root of all good and fruit of all that's bad. 
I have caused face to face with elements. 



FESTUS. 369 

Yea, learned the luminous language of the skies, 
And the angelic kindred of high Heaven ; 
The bright articulations of all spheres, — 
Impetuous hearted orbs, and mountain-maned, 
Aye circling onwards breathless through the air — 
And wisest stars which speak themselves in signs 
Too sacred to be explicable here ; 
And now what better am I ? — nearer God ? 
"When the void finds a voice mine answer know. 

Lucifer. What better or what worse thou canst 
not tell. 
For, good and evil ! Wherein differ they ? 
Do they not both accrue from the same cause , — 
As ripeness and decay ? Light, light alone 
Of hues, how contrary soever, is 
The common cause. 

Festus. Distracter of God's truth ! 

Shall not His word suffice the living world ? 

Lucifer. Thou canst not have lacked joys? 

Festus. We seek them oft 

Among our own delusions, pains and follies. 

Lucifer. Hath not care perished from thy heart, 
As did 
The viper flung from the apostle's hand ? 

Festus. Ay ; and, like that, all care will cease 
in fire. 
Dark wretched thoughts like ice-isles in a stream. 
Choke up my mind and clash; — and to no end. 
In spite of all we suffer and enjoy, 
Tliere comes this question, over and over again, 
Driven into the brain as a pile is driven — 
What shall become of us hereafter ? what 
Is it we shall do ? how feel, how be ? 
And there are times when burning memory flows 
In on the mind, that saving it would slay, 
24 



S70 FESTUS. 

As did the lava-floods wliich choked of yore 
The Cyclopean cities — brimming up 
Brasslike their mighty moulds. And shall the past 
Thus ruinously perfect aye remain ; 
Or present, past, and coming, all be one. 
In natural mystery ? Like snow, which lies 
Down-wreathed round the lips of some black pit, 
Thoughts which obscure the truth accumulate, 
And those which solve it in it lose themselves ; 
And there is no true knowledge till descent, 
Nor then till after. What shall make the truth 
Visible ? Through the smoky glass of sense 
The blessed sun would never know himself. 
All truth is one. All error is alike. 
The shadow of a mountain hath no more 
Substance than hath a dead and moss- mailed pine's j 
But only more gigantic impotence. 

Lucifer. Hast thou not had thine every quest ? 

Festus. Save one. 

Lucifer. I proffer now the power which thou 
dost long for. 
Say but the word, and thou shalt press a throne 
But less than mine — the scarcely less than God's;— 
A throne, at which earth's puny potentates 
May sue for slavedoms — and be satisfied. 

Festus. I have had enough of the infinities: 
I am moderate now. I will have the throne of earth. 

Lucifer. Thou shalt. Yet, mind ! — with that, 

Festus. I can survive, [the world must end. 

Lucifer. Nay, die with it must thou. 

Festus. Why should 1 die ? I am egg-full of life : 
And life's as serious a thing as death. 
The world is in its first young quarter yet ; 
I dare not, cannot credit it shall die. 
I will not have it, then. 



FESTUS. 371 

Lucifer. It matters not ; 

I know thou wilt never have ease at heart 
Until thou hast thj soul's whole, full desire ; 
"Whenever that may happen, all is done. 

Festus. Well, then — be it now ! I live but for 
myself — 
The whole world but for me. Friends, loves, and all 
I sought, abandon me. It is time to die. 
I am yet young ; yet have I been deserted, 
And wronged, by those whom most I have loved and 

served. 
Sun, moon, and stars ! may they all fall on me, 
When next I trust another — man or woman. 
Earth rivals Hell too often, at the best. 
All hearts are stronger for the being hollow. 
And that was why mine was no match for theirs. 
The pith is out of it now. — Lord of the world ! 
It will not directly perish ? 

Lucifer. Not, perhaps. — 

Thou wilt have all fame, while thou livest, now. 

Festus. I care not : fame is folly : for, it is, sure, 
Far more to be well known of God than man. 
With all my sins I feel that I am God's. 

Lucifer. Farewell, then, for a time ! 

Festus. I am alone. — 

Alone ? He clings around me like the clouds 
Upon a hill. Wlien will the clouds roll off? 
Wlien will sun visit me ? ! Thou great God ! 
In whose right hand the elements are atoms — 
In whose eye, light and darkness but a wink — 
Who, in Thine anger, like a blast of cold, 
Dost make the mountains shake like chattering 

teeth — 
Have mercy ! Pity me ! For it is Thou 
Who hast fixed me to this ter^t. Wilt Thou not save ? 



0'72 FESTUS. 

Forgive me, Fatlier ! but I long to die : — 
I long to live to Thee, a pure, free mind. 
Take again, God ! and thou, fair Earth, the form 
And spirit which, at first, ye lent me. [part. 

Such as they were, I have used them. Let them 
I weary of this world ; and, like the dove, 
Urged o'er life's barren flood, sAveep, tired, back 
To thee who sent'st me forth. Bear with me, God ! 
I am not worthy of thy wrath, nor love ! — 
Oh ! that the things which have been were not now 
In memory's resurrection ! But the past 
Bears in her arms the present and the future ; 
And what can perish while perdition is ? 
From the hot, angry, crowding courts of doubt 
Within the breast, it is sweet to escape, and soothe 
The soul in looking upon natural beauty. 
Oh ! earth, like man her son, is half divine. 
Tliere is not a leaf within this quiet spot, 
But which I seem to know ; should miss, if gone. 
I could run over its features, hour by hour. 
The quaintly figured beds — the various flowers — 
The mazy paths all cunningly converged — 
The black yew hedge, like a beleaguering ho:>t, 
Round some fair garden province — here and there, 
The cloud-like laurel clumps sleep, soft and fast, 
Pillowed by their own shadows — and beyond, 
The ripe and ruddy fruitage — the shar[) firs' 
Fringe, like an eyelash, on the faint-blue west — 
The white owl, wheeling from the grey old church, — 
Its age-peeled pinnacles, and tufted top — 
The oaks, whic]i spread their broad arms in the blast, 
And bid storms come, and welcome ; there they stand, 
To w^hom a summer passes hke a smile : — 
And the proud peacock towers himself there, and 
screams. 



FESTUS. 373 



Huffling the imperial purples of his neck. 
O'er all, the giant poplars, which maintain 
Equality with clouds half way up Heaven ; 
Which whisper with the winds none else can see, 
And bow to angels as they wing by them ; — 
The lonely, bowery, woodland view before — 
And, making all more beautiful, thou, sweet moon, 
Leading slow pomp, as triumphing o'er Heaven ! 
High riding in thy loveless, deathless brightness, 
And in thy cold, unconquerable beauty, 
As tiiough there were nothing worthy in the world 
Even to lie below thee, face to God. 
And Night, in her own name, and God's again. 
Hath dipped the earth in dew ; — and there she lies, 
Even like a heart all trembhnoj with delimit, 
Till passion murder power to speak — so mute. 
Young maiden moon! just looming into light — 
I would that aspect never might be changed ; 
Nor that fine form, so spirit-like, be spoiled 
"With fuller light. Oh ! keep that brilliant shape ; 
Keep the delicious honor of thy youth. 
Sweet sister of the sun, more beauteous thou 
Than he sublime. Shine on, nor dread decay. 
It may take meaner things ; but thy bright look, 
Smiling away an immortality, 
Assures it us — nay, it seems, half, to give. 
Earth may decease. God will not part with thee. 
Fair ark of light, and every blessedness ! 
Yes, earth, this earth, may foul the face of life. 
Like some swart mole on beauty's breast — or dead. 
Stiff, mangled reptile, some clear well — while thou 
Shalt shine, aye brilliant, on creation's corse. 
Like to a diamond on a dead man's hand ; 
Whence God shall pluck thee to His breast, or bid 
Beam 'mid His lightning locks. What are earth's joys 



374 FESTUS. 

To watcliing tliee, tending thy bright flock over 
The fields of Heaven ? Thy light misleadeth not, 
Though eyes wliich image Pleaven oft lure to 

Hell; — 
Thy smile betrayeth not — though sweet as that 
Which wins and damns. Mother, and maid of light ! 
That, like a God, redeems the world to Heaven — 
IMaking us one with thee, and with the sun, 
And with the stars in glory — lovely moon! 
I am immortal as thyself; and we 
Shall look upon each other yet, in Heaven, 
Often — but never, never more on earth. 
Am I to die so soon ? This death — the thought 
Comes on my heart as through a burning glass. 
I cannot bend mine eyes to earth, but thence 
It riseth, spectre-like, to mock — nor towards 
The west, where sunset is, whose long bright pomp 
Makes men in love with change — but there it lowers 
Eve's last, still lingering, darkening, cloud ; and on 
The escutcheon of the morn, it is there — it is there ! 
But fears will come upon the bravest mind. 
Like the white moon upon the crimson west. 
I have attractions for all miseries : 
And every course of thought, within niy heart, 
Leaves a new layer of woe. But it must end. 
It will all be one, hereafter. Let it be ! [sions. 

My bosom, like the grave, holds all quenched pas- 
It is not that I have not found what I sought — 
But, that the world — tush ! I shall see it die. 
I hate, and shall outlive the hypocrite. 
Stealthily, slowly, like the polar sun. 
Who peeps by fits above the air-walled world — 
The heavenly fief, he knows and feels his own, 
My heart o'erlooks the Paradise of life 
Which it hath lost, in cold, reluctant joy. 



FESTUS. 375 

I live and see all beauteous things about me, 

But feel no nature prompting from within 

To meet and profit by them. I am like 

That fabled forest of the Apennine, [showers, 

Which leafless lives ; whereto the spring's bright 

Summer's heat breathless, autumn's fruitful juice. 

Nothing avail ; — nor winter's kilhng cold. 

Yet have I done, said, thought, in time now past, 

What, rather than remember, I would die. 

Or do agam. It is the thinking on't. 

And the repentance, maddens. I have thought 

Upon such things so long and grievously, 

My lips have grown like to a cliff-chafed sea. 

Pale with a tidal passion ; and my soul, 

Once high and bright and self-sustained as Heaven, 

Unsettled now for life or death, feels like 

The grey gull balanced on her bowlike wings, 

Between two black waves seeking where to dive. 

Long we live, thinking nothing of our fate. 

For in the morn of life we mark it not — 

It falls behind ; but as our day goes down 

We catch it lengthening with a giant's stride. 

And ushering us unto the feet of night. 

Dark thoughts, like spots upon the sun, revolve 

In troops for days together round my soul, 

Disfiguring and dimming. Death ! oh death ! 

The past, the present, and the future, like 

The dog three-headed, by the gates of woe 

Sitting, seem ready to devour me each. 

I dare not look on them. I dare not think. 

The very best deeds I have ever done 

Seem worthy reprobation, have to be 

Repented of. But have I done aught good ? 

Oh that my soul were calmer ! Grant me, God ! 

Thy peace ; that added, I can smile and die. 



376 FESTUS. 

Thj Si^irit only is reality : 

All things beside are folly, falsehood, shame. 

Scene — Elsewhere. 

Festus alone. I feel as if I could devour the days 
Till the time came when I shall gain mine end ; 
God shall have made me ruler, and all worlds 
Signed the sublime recognizance. Till then, — 
Even as a boat lies rocking on the beach, 
Waiting the one white w^ave to float it free. 
Wait I the great event ; — too great it seems. 
Yet, Lord, thou knowest that the power I seek 
Is but for others' good and Thine own glory, 
And the desire for it inspired by Thee. 
So use me as I use it. Thou hast passed 
Thy word that such I shall enjoy, and then 
My mission is accomplished in this world. 
I go unto another, where all souls 
Begin again, or take up life from where 
Death broke it at. I cannot think there will be 
Like disproportion there between our powers 
And will, as here ; if not, I shall be happy. 
I feel no bounds. I cannot think but thought 
On thought springs up, illimitably, round. 
As a great forest sows itself; but here 
There is nor ground nor light enough to live. 
Could I, I would be every where at once, 
Like the sea, for I feel as if I could 
Spread out my spirit o'er the endless world, 
And act at all points : — I am bound to one. 
I must be here, and there, and everywhere, 
Or I am nowhere. Sense, flesh, feeling, fail 
Before the feet of the imperious mind, 
To which they are but as the dust she treads, — 



FESTUS. 377 

Windlike treads o'er, uplifts and leaves beliind. 

How mind will act with body glorified 

And spiritualized, and senses fined, 

And pointed brilliantwise, we know not. Here 

Even, it may be wrong in us to deem 

The senses degradations, otherwise 

Than as fine steps, whereby the Queenly soul 

Conies down from her bright throne to view the ma&i 

She hath dominion over, and the things 

Of her inheritance ; and reascends, 

Witk an indignant fiery purity, 

Not to be touched, her seat. The visible world, 

Whereby God maketh Nature known to us, 

Is not derogatory to Himself 

As the pure Spirit Infinite. A world 

Is but, perhaps, a sense of God's, b}^ which 

He may explain His nature, and receive 

Fit pleasure. But the hour is hard at hand. 

When Time's grey wing shall winnow all away. 

The atoms of the earth, the stars of Heaven ; 

When the created and Creator mind 

Shall know each other, worlds and bodies both 

Put off for aye ; man and his Maker meet 

Where all, who through the universe do well. 

Embrace their heart's desire ; what things they will, 

And whom remember ; live, too, where they list ; 

And with the beings they love best, and God, 

Inherit and inhabit boundless bhss. 

Hear me, all-favouring God ! my latest prayer ; 

Thou unto vv^hom all nations of the world 

Lift up their hearts, like grass-blades to the sun ; 

Thou who hast all things and hast need of nought ; 

Thou who hast given me Earth and all it holds, 

Give me, from out Thy garner stored with good. 

Some sign. Lord ! while I live, in proof to earth 



378 FESTUS. 

My prayers are with Thee ; that they rend the clouds, 

And, rising through the sightless dark of space, 

Reach to Thy central throne. Oh ! let me feel, 

What was my constant dream in ray young years, 

And is in all my better moments now, — 

My hope, my faith, ray nature's sum and end, 

Oneness with Thee and Heaven. Lord ! raake me sure 

My soul already is in unison 

With the triumphant. Ah ! I surely hear 

The voices of the spirits of the saints, 

And witnesses to the Redeeming Truth ; 

Not, as of old, in scanty scattered strains. 

Breathed from the caves of earth and cells of cities,— 

Nor as the voice of martyr choked Avitli fire — 

But in one solemn Heaven-pervading hymn 

Of happiness impregnable, as when 

From the bright walls of the Son's city they 

Looked on the war of Hell, host upon host, 

Foiled by God's single sword before their gates 

Of perfect pearl ; — nearer and nearer now ! 

This is the sign, God ! which Thou hast given, 

And I will praise Thee through Eternity. 

The Saints /row Heaven, 

Call all who love Thee, Lord, to Thee ! 

Thou knowest how they long 
To leave these broken lays, and aid 

In Heaven's unceasing song ; 
How they long. Lord, to go to Thee, 

And hail Thee with their eyes, — 
Thee in Thy blessedness, and all 

The nations of the skies ; 

All who have loved Thee and done well, 
Of every age, creed, clime, 



FESTUS. o79 

The Lost of saved ones from the ends 

And all the worlds of time ; 
The wise in matter and in mind, 

The soldier, sage, and priest. 
King, prophet, hero, saint, and bard. 

The greatest soul and least ; 

The old and young and very babe. 

The maiden and the youth. 
All re-born an";els of one asre — 
^ The age of Heaven and truth ; 
The rich, the poor, the good, the bad. 

Redeemed, alike, from sin ; 
Lord ! close the book of time, and let 

Eternity begin. 

Festus. "Will ye away, ye blessed ones ? To God 
I then commend ye, and my soul with yours. 
And midst the light in which ye live, oh ! mind 
Of all the sunless days and starless nights 
Which myriads pass on earth, and pray for them ! 
Oh ! pray for those who in the world's dark womb 
Are bound, who know not yet their Father, God ! — 
Lord of all earth, all worlds, all Heaven ! Hft up 
My spirit to Thy glory ! Let me share 
The comfort of Thy love, and while ordained 
To the great task I have to go through, let 
No more misgivings, fears, nor mortal doubts, 
"With the cold dew of darkness chill the soul 
Which Thou hast hallowed with Thy love, and 

• which. 
Like molten gold within its mould, hath made 
The thing that holds it precious ; — or if. Lord ! 
For Thine own purpose. Thou wilt suffer such. 
May they pass quick and perish tracelessly ; 
So, too, all thoughts of earth and pangs of death 



380 FESTUS. 

May I o'ercome at last, and with Thy chosen, 
Seraphs and samts, and all-possessing souls, 
Which minister unto the universe, 
Enthroned in spirit and intensest bliss. 
Succeed to Heaven for ever. 

Guardian Angel. Mortal, hear! 

The soul once saved shall never cease from bliss, 
Nor God lose that He buyeth with His blood. 
She doth not sin. The deeds which look like sin, 
The flesh and the false world, are all to her 
Hallowed and glorified. The world is changed. 
She hath a resurrection unto God 
"While in the flesh, before the final one. 
And is with God. Her state shall never fail. 
Even the molten granite which hath split 
Mountains, and lieth now like curdled blood 
In marble veins, shall flow again when comes 
The heat which is to end all ; when the air 
Is as a ravening fire, and what at first 
Produced, at last consumeth ; but the soul 
Redeemed is dear to God as His own throne. 
And shall no sooner perish. Hearken, man ! 
Wilt thou distrust God ? Doubt on doubt no more. 
Prepare thee for the power and lot sublime 
Whereto the Lord hath called thee. He hath heard 
The prayers with which thou hast entreated Him, 
And bids me tell thee, shrink not, doubt not. He 
Will comfort and uphold thee at the end ; 
For after God the Chooser, God the Slain, 
Cometh the God of Comfort to the heart. 
Whose action and effect is ministrant 
For ever after — consummating all. 

Festus. I fear, I fear this miracle of Death 
Is something terrible. But go to God, 
Tiioii Jiiigel, jind dechire tliat I repent 
or all misdeeds ; that but for His own grace 



FESTUS. 381 

I should repent of my whole life ; that on 
That grace, which now hath sanctified the whole, 
I trust for all the rest of it, and then 
For ever ; that I am prepared to act 
And suifer as He bids, and in all things 
To do His will rejoicing. 

Angel. It is done. 

Festus. Oh ! I repent me of a thousand sins, 
In number as the breaths which I have breathed. 
Am I forgiven ? 

•A.NGEL. Child of God, thou art. 

It is God prompts, mspires, and answers prayer ; 
Not sin, nor yet repentance, which avails : 
And none can truly worship but who have 
The earnest of their glory from on high — 
God's nature in them. The world cannot worship. 
And whether the lip speak, or in inspired 
Silence we clasp our hearts as a shut book 
Of song unsung, the silence and the speech 
Is each His ; and as coming from and going 
To Him, is worthy of Him and His Love. 
Prayer is the spirit speaking truth to Truth ; 
The expiration of the thmg inspired. 
I go. Thy God is with thee. We shall meet 
Again in Heaven, no more to part. 

Festus. Thou art gone I 

'T is sweet to feel we are encircled here 
By breath of angels as the stars by Heaven ; 
And the soul's ovrn relations, all divine, 
As kind as even those of blood ; — and thus 
While friends and kin, like Saturn's double rings, 
Cheer us along our orbit, v/e may feel 
We are not lone in life, but that earth 's part 
Of Heaven and all things. Praise we, therefore, 

God ! 
O all ye angels, pray and praise with us ! — 



382 FESTUS. 

Scene — A Gathering of Kings and Peoples. 

« 

Festus throned. Princes and Peoples ! Powers 

once, of earth ! 
It suits not that I point to ye the path 
By which I reached this sole supreme domain — 
This mountain of all mortal might. Enough, 
That I am monarch of the world — the world. 
Let all acknowledge loyally my laws. 
And love me as I them love ! It will be best. 
No rise against me can stand. I rule of God ; 
And am God's sceptre here. Think not the world 
Is reater than my might — less than my love — 
Or that it stretcheth further than mine arm ! 
Kings ! ye are Kings no longer. Cast your crowns 
Here — for my footstool. Every power is mine. 
Nobles ! be first in honour. Ye, too, lose 
Your place, in place : retrieve yourselves in good. 
Peoples ! be mighty in obedience. 
Let each one labour for the common weal. 
Be every man a people in his mind. 
Kings — nobles — nations ! love me and obey. 
I need no aid — no arms. Burn books — break 

swords ! 
The world shall rest, and moss itself with peace. 
Stand forth, and speak, sole servant of my throne ! 
If aught thou hast to settle and explain — 
Or send away these nations to their homes. 

Ldcifer. Ye mighty once — ye many weak, give 

ear ! 
I and my god — for god he sure must be, 
In human form, who sitteth there enthroned — 
For readier rule, and for the good of all. 
Have cast again the dynasties of earth 



FESTUS. 383 

According to the courses of the air : —r- 

xnerefore, from east, and west, and north, and south, 

Four element-hke ministers shall bend 

Before his feet. Hearken, thou unkinged crowd ! 

Ye have not sought the good of those ye governed. 

The people only for the people care. 

Ye seem to have thought earth but a ball for kings 

To play with : rolling the royal bawble, empire, 

Now east — now west. Your hour and power is past 

Ye are the very vainest of mankind, 

As loftiest things weigh lightest. Ye are gone ! 

Nations, away with them ! Nor do ye boast I 

Ye find that power means not good, not bliss. 

But ye would wed delusion : — now, ye know her. 

And she is yours for life — and death — and judgment. 

There is no power, nor majesty, save his : 

His is the kingdom of the world and glory. 

His throne is founded centre-deep by Heaven ; 

And the whole earth doth bless him. Unto all 

He hath laid out one perfect level law — 

His will. For as the people cannot rule 

Themselves, so neither may a crowd of kings : 

And hence hath been the evil of the earth — 

Now ceased for ever. War will be no more. 

His is the sway of social sovereign peace : 

His tyranny is love and good to all : — 

His is the vice-royed, vouched-safe sway of God : — 

And he will turn the world, at will ; as light 

Turneth the world round. Greet your Lord, and go ! 

Depart, ye nations ! 

Festus. Hark ! thou fiend ! dost hear ? 

Lucifer. Ay ! it is the death groan of the sons 
Thy subjects — King ! [of men — 

Festus. "Why hadst thou this so soon ? 

LuciFEE. It is God who brings it all about — not L 



384 FESTUS. 

Festus. I am not ready — and — it shall not be! 

Lucifer. I cannot help it, monarch ! and — it is! 
Hast not had time for good ! 

Festus. One day — perchance. 

Lucifer. Then hold that day as an eternity. 

Festus. All around me die. The earth is one 
great death-bed. [thee, 

Clara. Oh ! save me, Festus ! I have fled to 
Through all the countless nations of yon dead — 
For well I knew it was thou who sattest there, 
To die with thee, if that thou art not Death : 
And, if thou wert, I would not shrink from thee. 
I am thine own, own Clara 1 

Festus. Thou art safe 1 

Here in the holy chancel of my heart — 
The heavenly end of this our fleshly fane, 
I jold thee to communion. Rest thee safe ! 

Clara. Men thought I was an angel, as I 
passed ; 
And caught up at my feet — but I 'scaped alL 
I knew — I was sure, that I should die by thee. 
The lieart is a true oracle — I knew it! [tals yet. 

Festus. Then there is faith among these mor- 
Thy beauty cometli first, and goeth last — 
Willow-like. "Welcome I 

Clara. Oh ! I am so happy ! 

Festus. I speak of thee as of the dead; the dead 
Are alway faithful. 

Clara. I will stay with thee — 

Though angels beckon — may I ? Let me, love ! 
I dare not — cannot, take mine eyes from thee, 
For fear of looking on the dead. Dear Festus ! 

Festus. Thou art the only one hast answered me, 
Love to love — life to life. 

Clara. Oh ! I am dying ! 



FESTUS. 885 

Give me one kiss — the kiss of life and death — 
The only taste of earth I will take to Heaven. 
Here ! let me die, die in it. [_Dies* 

Festus. Last and best ! 

Now am I one, again. Oh ! memory runs 
To madness, like a river to the sea. 
Happy as Heaven have I been with thee, love I 
Thine innocent heart hath passed through a pure 
life, [sky. 

Like a white dove, wing-sunned through the blue 
A better heart God never saved in Heaven. 
She died as all the good die — blessing — hoping. 
There are some hearts, aloe-like, flower once, and 

die : 
And hers was of them. Ah ! all life hath ceased. 
And silence reads the dead w^orld's burial tale. 
And Death sits quivering, there, and watering. 
His great gaunt jaw at me. AYhen must I die ? 

Lucifer. Say ! dost thou feel to be mortal, or 
immortal ? 

Festus. Away ! — and let me die alone. 

Lucifer. I go : 

And I will come again : but sjiare thee, now. 
One hour to think — [ Goes, 

Festus. On all things. God, my God ! 

One hour to sum a life's iniquities ! 
One hour to fit me for eternity — 
To make me up for judgment and for God ! 
Only one hour to curse thee ! Nay, for that. 
There may be endless hours. God ! I despair, — 
And I am dying. Let me hold my breath ! 
I know not if I ever may draw another. 
I feel Death blowing hard at the lamp of life. 
My heart feels filling like a sinking boat ; [me ? 

It will soon be down — down. What will come of 
25 



386 FESTUS. 

It is as I always wished it ; — I shall die 

In darkness, and in silence, and alone. 

Even my last wish is petted. God I I thank Thee; 

It is the earnest of Thy coming — what ? 

Forgiveness ? Let it be so : for I know not 

What I have done to merit endless pain. 

Is pleasure crime ? Forbid it, God of bliss ! 

Who spurn at this world's pleasures, lie to God ; 

And shew they are not worthy of the next. 

What are Thy joys we know not — nor can we 

Come near Thee, in Thy power, nor truth, nor 

justice ; 
The nearest point wherein we come towards Thee, 
Is loving — making love — and being happy. 
Thou wilt not chronicle our sandlike sins ; 
For sin is small, and mean, and barren. Good, 
Only, is great, and generous, and fruitful. 
Number the mountains, not the sands, God ! 
God will not look as we do on our deeds ; 
Nor yet as others. If He more condemn, 
Shall He not more approve ? A few fair deeds 
Bedeck my life, like gilded cherubs on 
A tomb, beneath which lie dust, decay, and darkness. 
But each is better than the other thinks. 
Thank God ! man is not to bo judged by man :— • 
Or, man by man, the world would damn itself. 
What do I see ? It is the dead. They rise 
In clouds ! and clouds come sweeping from all sides. 
Upwards to God : and now they are all gone — 
Gone, in a moment, to eternity. 
But there is something near me. 

Spirit. It is I. 

Festus. Go on ! I follow, when it is my time. 
There is no shadow on the face of life : 



FESTUS. 387 

It is the noon of fate. ^Yhj may not I die ? 

Metbinks I shall have yet to slay myself. 

I am calm now. Can this be the same heart 

"Which, when it did sleep, slept from dizziness, 

And pure rapidity of passion, like 

The centre circlet of tlie whirlpool's. wheel? 

The earth is breaking up ; all things are thawing. 

Kiver and mountain melt into their atoms ; 

A little time, and atoms Avill be all. 

The sea boils ; and the mountains rise and sink 

Like^marble bubbles, bursting into death. 

thou hereafter ! on whose shore I stand — 
Waiting each toppling moment to engulf me — 
"\Yliat am I ? Say, thou Present ! — say, thou Past ! 
Ye three wise children of Eternity ! 

A life ? — a death ? — and an immortal ? — all ? 
Is this the threefold mystery of man ? 
The lower, darker Trinity of earth ? 
It is Tain to ask. Nought answers me — not God. 
The air grows thick and dark. The sky comes down. 
The sun draws round him streaky clouds, like God 
Gleaning up wrath. Hope hath leapt off my heart. 
And overturned it. I am bound to die. [world 

God, why wilt Thou not save? The great round 
Hath wasted to a column beneath my feet. 

1 will hurl me off it, then ; and search the depth 
Of space, in this one infinite plunge ! — Farewell, 
To earth, and Heaven, and God ! Doom ! spread 
I come — I come ! [thy lap ! 

God. 
Forbear ! 
Festus. I am God's ! 

God. 

Man, die I 



388 FESTUS. , 

Scene — The Skies, 
Go^, Angels, Angel op Earth, Lucifer. 

God. 

The age of matter consummates itself. 
All things that are shall end, save that is mine. 
As with one world, so shall it be wnlh all ; 
For all are human, fallible, and false, — 
As creature towards Creator must be aye. 
But for the whole prepare ye, not the less 
Grade upon grade of glory, sons of God ! 
And Earth shall live again, and like her sons 
Have resurrection to a brighter being : 
And waken like a bride, or like a morning, 
With a long blush of love to a new life. 
Another race of souls shall rule in her. 
Creatures all loving, beautiful, and holy. 
Go, angel ! guide her as before through Heaven. 
Angel of Earth. On ! on ! my world again ! 
Away Ave fly 

Through Heaven's blue plain, 
Like thought through the eye. 
Ye angels keep your Heaven ! 

I, Earth ! 
For that with God I have striven, 
And have prevailed. 
I come once more, 
I come to thee, Earth ! 
Like a ship to shore. [that was ? 

Lucifer. Have not I triumphed o'er the earth 

God. 
Prince of tlie powers of air ! thy doom is nigh. 
The prison place of spirits is for thee — 



1 



FESTUS. S89 

As for all others thou hast wronged, for a time — 
But those who by my favour die not. Him 
Conduct, ye angels, into Hades ; there 
To wait my will while the world's sabbath lasts. 

Scene — Tlie Millennial Earth. 
Saints a?io? Angels conversing ; Festus. 

Angel. The Earth is all one Eden. Pity, sure, 
That it should ever end. 

Saint. I say not so ; 

Although I have a thousand plans in hand, 
Some interwoven with the farthest stars — 
Each one of which might ask a year of years 
To perfect. 

Angel. True ; our Maker knoweth best 
What thought or deed may best belong to time 
Or to eternity. 

Saint. All prophecy 

Hath said the earth shall cease, and that right soon. 

Festus. 'Tis like enough. Beauty's akin to 
Death. 

Angel. Behold, our sister Graces of the skies, 
Faith, Hope, and Love, descend ! Methinks of late 
Ye chiefly dwell on earth. 

Love. Where lives and reigns 

The Son of God, there are we ever seen, 
Successive, as the seasons to the sun. [worlds. 

Saints. Well are ye known and welcome in all 
Wherever lofty thought or godly deed 
Is lodged or compassed, there your blessings rest. 

Hope. How sweet, how sacred now, this earth of 
man's ! 
The prelude of a yet sublimer bliss ! — 



390 FESTUS. 

I marked it from the first, while yet it lay 

Lightless and stirless ; ere the forming fire 

Was kindled in its bosom, or the land 

Lift its volcanic breastwork up from sea. 

The deluge and idolatries of men 

I viewed, though shuddering, and with faltering eye, 

E 'en to the incarnation of Heaven's Lord, 

And dawning of His faith ; that faith which was 

An infant and anon a giant ; was 

A star, and grew a Heaven-fulfilling sun ; 

Which was an outcast, and became, ere long, 

A dweller m all palaces ; which hid 

Its head in dens of deserts, and sat throned. 

After, in richest temples high as hills ; 

Which was poured out in mortal blood, and rose 

In an immortal spirit ; as a slave 

Was sold for gold and prostrated to power ; — 

And now that lowly bondmaid is a Queen ; 

And lo ! she is beloved in earth and Heaven ; 

And lieth in the bosom of her Lord, 

The Bride of the all-worshipped, one with God. 

Love. We even of divinest origin 
In infinite progression view all worlds ; 
And we are happy. 

Faith. The dead sleep as yet ; 

But their time cometh, and the bonds of death 
Already slacken round the living soul ; 
The mortal sleep of ages, which began 
When Time sank down into his slumberous west, 
Thins even now o'er the reviving eyes 
Gathering their Heaven-lent light, no more to wane 
In woe or age ; never be quenched in tears 
Like a star in the sea. ' Tis as I ever knew ; 
My life is to receive and to believe 
The Word and words of God. 



FESTUS. 391 

Love. I, who am Love 

And Grace and Charity, rejoice with you ; 
Whither ye wend I with ye ; whether here, 
Or on the utmost rim of Light's broad reign — 
The least and last of stars which even seems 
To tremble at its insignificance 
In presence of Lifinity ; where yet 
No angel's wing hath waved, nor foot of fiend 
Left its hot imprint ; — still, in all do we 
Find fit delight and honour, as now here. 
Now-earth and Heaven hold commune, day and 

night ; 
There's not a wind but bears upon its wing 
The messages of God ; and not a star 
But knows the bliss of earth. 

Festus. The earth hath God 

Remade, and all its elements refined. 
Fit for sublimer Being. Flesh hath passed 
Its fiery baptism, and come forth clear 
As crystal gold : all that of vile or mean 
Pertained to it hath perished atomless. 
Earth, like a diamond, basks in her own free light ; 
Unfed, unaided, unrequiring aught. 
All now is purity and power and peace. 
The first-born of creation, they who hail 
Archangels as their brethren, mountainhke 
Reign o' er the plains of men, converting all ; 
Reaping the fields of immortality, 
Each one his sheaf, for Him the Harvest-Lord, 
To whom belongs earth's whole estate and life 
And every world's. 

Angel. And He shall garner aU. 

The awfid tribes which have in Hades dwelt. 
Past count of time, await their rising. God's 
Great day, the sabbath of the world's long week, 



J592 FESTUS. 

Is at high noon j and Christ hath yet to come 
To judge and save the living and the dead. 

Saint. The shadows of Eternity o' ercast 
Akeady Time's bright towers. The Heavens shall 

come 
Down like a cloud upon a hill, and sweep 
Their spirit over earth, and the Avhole face 
And form of things shall be dissolved and change. 
Nothing shall be but essence, perfect, pure. 
And void of every attribute but God's. 
This even is too gross for that which is 
To come. The holy have both earth and Heaven. 

Festus. Nor pain, nor toil of mind or frame, nor 
doubt. 
Nor discontent, nor enmity to God, 
Disturb the steady joy the spirit feels ; 
Nor element can torture, nor time tire ; 
Nor sea nor mountain make or bar or fear ; 
Sickness and woe and death are things gone by ; 
Destroyed with the destruction of the Avorld : — 
Shadows of things which have been, never more 
To waste the world's bright hours, nor grate the 

heart 
Of mighty man ; now fit for thrones and wings ; 
Ruler of worlds, main minister of Heaven, 
Inheritor of all the prophecies 
Of God fore-uttered through the tongues of Time, 
Ages of ages. Evil is no more. 

Archangel. And does earth satisfy thee now ? 

Festus. As earth. 

There is a brighter, loftier life for man 
Even yet, the very union with God. 

Archangel. God w^orks by means. Between the 
two extremes 
Of earth and Heaven there lies a mediate state, — 



FESTUS. 393 

A pause betAveen the lightning lapse of life 

And following thunders of eternity ; — 

Between eternity and time a lapse, 

To soul unconscious, though agelasting, where 

Spirit is tempered to its final fate ; 

"When every interfulgent conscious state 

Within or between worlds, repose or bliss, 

Divested, man shall mix with Deity, 

And the Eternal and Immortal make 

One Being. As in earth's first paradise 

Gofl's Spirit walked with man, and commune made 

With him, so in the second, after death, 

Man's spirit walks with God in an elect 

Existence, and a vigil of the great, 

The holy day which is to break in Heaven. 

Tiiither the Lord of Life went, in the hour 

That Hell by Earth revenged itself on Heaven, 

With one soul penitent accompanied ; - — 

Nor long remained He there, yet long enough 

To cheer earth's faithful, who received Him then 

Tn silent unknown blessedness of soul, 

With time-outW'Caring hope that yet in Him 

They should partake the Godhood of His love. 

And with Him rose then, in prophetic proof 

Of His Divinity, many a deathless ghost. 

Triumphant o' er that blind revenge which wrought, 

Hell ! thy destruction — thy salvation. Earth ! 

Festus. That such wiU be, the just well know ; and 
alt 
Earth's great events and changes tend thereto ; 
Its fiery dissolution in the past. 
And supernatural recommencement now 
Under the universal creed of Christ. 
The chosen and the world-redeemed partake 
His personal and spiritual reign. 



394 FESTUS. 

Archangel. And tliis sliall last, till, like the set- 
ting sun 
Deserting earth, He shall retire to Heaven, 
With all His captive victors in His train. 
Triumphant, and translated evermore 
Into the hierarchal skies. Wilt see, 
While yet time is, earth's shadowy world within — 
The inward living death she bears about 
Her heart, hath ever borne — and, augur-like. 
Explore the ominous bowels of the earth ? 
To me are given the secrets of the centre. 
The keys of earth, to lock and to unlock, 
Coffer-like. I, it was who seized and bound. 
At His behest who wills and it is done — 
Even on their thrones, the mighty thou wilt see. 

Festus. Angel of Heaven ! I would view these 
things. [y^t* 

Archangel. Nor these alone, but other wonders 
The valley where Death's dark Vv^ngs brooded o' er, 
A God-offending night, unvisited 
By sun or star, where but the fatuous fire 
Of man's weak judgment wandered, till God's Son 
Laid o' er the black abyss a bridge of light. 
And married earth to the mainland of Heaven — 
This shalt thou see, Death's grave ; and over him, 
And over it, that monument of light, 
Enlightening earth. The gods and fiends of old. 
And all the fictions of the heart of man. 
Imagined of the future past for aye. 
Thou shalt inspect. Behold this mountain ! We 
Must pass through it ; for under lie the gates 
Of the invisible regions whereunto 
We tend, for a brief season. 

Festus. On then ! 

Archangel. Bare 



FESTUS. 395 

Thy marble breast, O mountain, to Its depths ! 
An angel and a man divine demand 
A way through these foundations. 

Festus. And the rocks 

Open like mists before thee. 

Archangel. Follow me ! 



Scene — Hades. 
^ Archangel, Festus, Death, Lucifer. 

Festus. Almighty God! sustain me. This is 
Death ; — 
And this — I knew not, angel ! he was here — 
Is Lucifer — the fallen, like a bolt 
Of thunder forged in intramundane aii', 
Self-buried in the centre. Lucifer ! 
"Wake from thy sealike sleep ; in peace or wrath, 
Kouse from thine age-long trance ; arise and see ; 
The representatives of earth and Heaven 
Stand by thee. As for me, I blame no more 
The part thou tookest in my mortal life ; 
'T is gone, — nor spurn thee for delusions dead. 
The blood that hath been spilled is sunk in earth, 
And run into the rivers, and dried up 
Into the air ; — and there 's an end of it. 
What good hath come of it alone I bear 
At heart. And we have both offended God. 
Let me, though not in nature to forget, 
Forgive, what every one hath sometime felt — 
The Devil's burning gripe upon his heart. 
I see thee with compassion, half with hope. 

Lucifer. Mortal ! I bow to thee, and would do to 
The least and lowest spirit God hath made : 
But still the curse that I am cursed with 
Outlasts the elements — outlives all time. 



396 FESTUS. 

Festus. All curses cease with time ; all ill, all woe. 
Blessings star forth for ever ; but a cui'se 
Is like a cloud — it passes. 

Lucifer. 'T was by him — 

Yon angel, only not almighty, there ! 
As with a chain of mountains I was bound 
And hurled into this unformed nebulous life ; 
Stripped of all might when mightiest, struck down 
^\T:nle triumphing the loftiest, — enslaved 
When most a monarch o'er both earth and hell, 
And made a shadow among shadows here. 
It recks not. Let the impenetrable soul 
Be ground as through a mill, I only know 
In action or inaction equal woe — 
Suffering, doing, being, one extreme. 
Pass on ! we meet again ! 

Festus. And when we do, 

May God forgive, as I ! — 

Archangel. Behold there, Death ! 

Throned on his tomb — entombed in his throne ; 
Just as he ceased he rests for aye — his scythe. 
Still wet out of its bloody swathe, one hand 
Tottering sustains ; the other strikes the cold 
Drops from his bony brow : his mouldy breath 
Tainteth all air. 

Festus. I dread him now no more, 

Nor hate. He is a vanquished enemy. 

Archangel. Listen ! he speaks. 

Death. To you, ye sons of God, 

My latest words I utter. Unto him 
Who ever lives, and hath for aye destroyed 
Me and my reign, give ye this crown usurped, 
And lay it at His feet ; and this dulled dart 
Which was my sceptre. To the conqueror 
Belong these trophies. All the progeny 



FESTUS. 307 

Of time will soon cease. Lo ! tlie end 's at hand. 

Archangel. Tims shall it be, Death ! and thus 
it is. 

Festus. And who are these gigantic awful shades 
"Which fill the midst — the present of the place ? 

Archangel. These are the mighty nothings man 
Made ; the dread unrealities by whom [of old 

He swore, to whom he prayed, and at whose shrines 
He sacrificed a thousand times a day : — 
His brother falsehoods these, men like himself, 
Wiich mere imagination changed to gods, 
Some for their good deeds, others for their bad : 
Bel, Odin, Bramh and Zeus, the Lords of death 
And fire, and judgment, waiting here their death 
And fiery judgment — Time and Titan — war — 
Beauty, and strength, and Light, and the long roll 
Of creatural powers and passions Deified ; — 
Wlio gave their names to stars which still roam round 
The skies, all worshipless, even from climes 
Where their own altars once topped every hill. 

Jove. Before the Christian cross and Moslem 
mosque 
My marble fanes have fallen, and my shrines 
Shrunk like a withered hand ages ago. 
But now all signs and sacred domes for gods 
To dwell in are extinct. The world is all 
One Temple of the Truth. 

Bramh. The ages feigned 

That made Time groan to think how old he was, 
And Deities in millions are no more. 
Ageless eternity and God the sole, 
The royalty of Heaven, is at hand. 

BooDH. All things that are shall nothing be at last, 
Save what 's resolvable in Deity. [like moons, 

Festus. And all these lesser shades, which move 



398 FESTUS. 

Half-darkened by the greater — half-illuraed — 
Are priests and prophets of the mightier ones ? 

Akchangel. They are ; — and further round 
thine eye can mark, 
The myriads of adorers of each god, 
Confused and prostrate, as their souls awake 
To the demoniac madness of their creeds. 
Behold ! they kneel to those they hailed on earth 
As m.akers — as omnipotent — eterne — 
And cry for help, for comfort ; none have they 
To give to others or themselves. The false, 
The base, the brutish Deities give way, 
And all their sacred follies in their train. 
Before the earthquake truth, engulphing all. 
Woe to the false gods, woe ! to prophet, priest, 
And worshipper, all woe ! 

Festus. Hark ! round the earth 

Each soul hath found a tongue and uttereth woe. 
Lo ! from their thrones the man-made gods descend, 
And rend their robes and trample on their crowns, 
And hurl away their sceptres. Woe to all 
The gods and idols of the heart of man ! 
Their sun is set for ever in the night 
Which was ere Light was. Surely it is more 
To be true man or woman than false god 
And falser prophet. God alone the true, 
The God of Heaven, shall be witnessed to 
And worshipped. 

Archangel. Witnessed, worshipped, too, 

By all : the faithful and the faithless — saint 
And sinner. 

Festus. Lo ! the nations of the dead, 

Which do outnumber all earth's races, rise. 
And high in sumless myriads over head 
Sweep past us in a cloud, as 't were the skirts 



FESTUS. 399 

Of the Eternal passing. 

A VOICE. Souls, arise 

To deathless life ! 

Archangel. 'T is God speaks. Let us hence. 
The general judgment is in hand, — God's hand. 
The souls of those whom God loves circle us. 
For thee, thy lot thou knowest. As a seed 
Buried in earth doth multiply itself 
Full fifty fold, so will thy nature when 
Changed, it lifts head in the air divine of Heaven. 

ii'ESTUS. Out of the depths of earth and the world's 
womb 
Thine unborn angels seek thee, God, all Love ! 
Now is Thine hour for which all hours were made. 
All life created, all things else ordained ; 
Be it the hour of mercy. Lord ! to all. 
For Thy Son's sake, who, for the sake of man, 
Came down from Ileaven into the pit of earth, 
And lived as one of us and died ; — He died 
The death of all at once of every age ; 
The world's accumulated weight of woe. 
From its first life unto its last, which none 
But the Omnipotent could bear — He bore ; 
And all for us. God became man that man 
Might become God. Oh, favour infinite ! 
Now reap the righteous, righteous but in Him 
Any, their guerdon. Evil to repay [Heaven 

"With good was Christ's command, and earth with 
Is thus the great example of His word. 
Enough for sinners this, for all which live. 
Do Thou, Lord ! be with us. In Thee we live ; 
Our treasure, trust and triumph is in Thee. 
Behold the day of our salvation come 
Unto the countless all Thou hast redeemed ! 
The ages sweep around me with their wings 



400 ^ FESTUS. 

Like angered eagles cheated of their prey, 
The ages of all time : the glowing Heavens 
Are rushing to receive us. Oh, rejoice 
All ye that are immortal — and whate'er 
Hath been predestined to eternal end, 
The day determined ere all time was dawns ! 



Scene — Earth. 

Angels and Saints — An Angel descending ; 

Festus. 

Saint. "Wlience art thou ? 

Angel. I ? from Heaven, and thither tend ; — 
One moment here to bid ye to prepare. 
Our Lord the Eternal Son comes hither, girt 
With His victorious hosts, to judge the world. 

Saint. What victory hath our Almighty gained ? 

Angel. One Jfinal, over Death and Hell. Shout, 
earth ! 

Thy freedom is accomplished, and thy foes 

Brought down to endless ruin. 

Saint. Angel, speak ! 

We burn to learn the tidings of this war. 
Whereof thou tell'st, and doubtless wast a part. 

Angel. Hot from the fight I come. This light- 
ning blade 
Hath holpen well to thin the infernal rout. 
Which back hath fled to hell, howling like winds. 
But let me, at your Avill, ye peaceful saints, 
Relate what happed to us from first to last. 
The time was come in Heaven when God the Son, 
Bowing his head before the Omnipotent, 
Wio doubled every blessing infinite 
AVherewith he had enriched His Only One 



FESTUS. 401 

From first, rose from his glorious throne, and stepped 

Into His sun-bright car, caUing aloud 

His angels to attend Him while He went 

To judge the earth, as fore-ordained of old : 

That Heaven and earth might view the majesty 

Aiid mercy of the God of all. We came, 

Selectest spirits, countless — crowded bright 

As the great stream of stars which flows through 

Heaven 
Fast by the foot of God, each wave a world — 
Eager to the eye this act of glory long 
Talked of in Heaven, and now to be achieved. 
Forth from the starry towers, and world-wide walls, 
Of Heaven, we set in high and silent joy, [lo ! 

And journeyed half our way through Heaven, when 
A sight which checked the foremost flaming ranks, 
That halted frontwise, working doubt at first. 
But triumph after. . Shielded and drawn up close, 
Behind a broken and decaying world. 
From which the light had vanished like the light 
Out of a death-shrunk eye, sat Lucifer — 
Midst in the powers of darkness, and the hosts 
Of hell, enthroned sublime ; and all were still 
As ambushed silence round the Foe of God. 
But oh ! how changed from him we knew in Heaven, 
Whose brightness nothing made might match nor 

mar ; [^^'ii^g, 

Who rose, and it was morn ; — who stretched his 
And stepped from star to star ; — so changed he 

shewed 
Most like a shadowy meteor, thorough which 
The stars dim glint — woe-wasted, pined with pain. 
And by his side there sat or shrank a shape 
We angels knew not, but the Son of God 
Knew him, and called him Death ; whom, when he saw, 

26 



402 FESTUS. 

Arousing, after, out of sleep intense, 
That unrealmed tyrant drew his mortal dart, 
And drave it through himself, — a shade, shade- 
quelled. 
Then to that chief of mischief and his fiends. 
Who, thick as burning stones that from the throat 
Of some volcano foul the benighted sky, 
tShot up triumphant into air as they 
Beheld our ranks move on, thus spake our Lord, — 
Not wrathfully, but sternly pitying : 
Hell's wretched remnant ! wherefore crouch ye here ? 
Is it to sue destruction, or to bar 
My passage ? If it be, in both ye err. 
And will ye trust yourselves again to war 
"With me Almighty ? Have I not overcome 
Ye separately, both ? Speak, brutal Death ! 
Fit follower and fellow to all woes, — 
Wlierefore this instantaneous haste from hell, 
And both from Hadean bondage, thus again 
So soon to compass mightiest wickedness, 
And tempt extremest wrath ? Speak, head of hell ! 
To Him thus Lucifer : Almighty Son ! 
Thy power I defy not ; but in peace 
I war with fite. My life is to destroy. 
Evil hath more activity, if good 
More strength : and one must wear the other out. 
The more august the sin, so much the more 
Is my necessity. Yon earth hath been 
The battle-plain of Heaven and hell. From Thee, 
Who knowest all things, it were vain to liide 
My purpose, which for a thousand years, the years 
Of bondage, hath grown in me and lived on. 
Toad-like within a rock — vital where all 
Beside was death — to seize the nascent souls 
Of men as they rerose from death to life. 



FESTUS. 403 

And sweep tliem off in midst of all these hosts, 

Assembled for that cause here as Thou seest, 

To hell ; — the universal race of man. 

But if ordained that not on them, but Thee 

And Thine, old hate shall satisfy itself, 

Approach no nearer ; for we live by death ; — 

Or turn the tide of fate, Thou sole who canst ! 

Ceasing thereat, his host upraised a shout 

"Which shook the stars, and made them rins: ajrain. 

Our Lord to him then spake thus, mild as Spring, 

Addressing earth when smiling she lets fall 

All flowerets from her lips — 'Tis well there is a God ! 

Lo ! to what base extremes infernal pride 

Can push a princely spu-it once in Heaven. 

Thee we will not destroy now, for thine hour 

Hath yet to come — when least thou thinkest it. 

God's wrath thou hast endured in punishment. 

Not yet His power. Away ! I warn ye hence 

Ere wrath ride forth again. To Him the Fiend 

Answered : God rules not us the unordered damned, 

Nor recks of hell. For ages past belief. 

Unless by those who like ourselves denied 

Thine own eternity — by creature mind, 

How^ever lofty, hardly compassed — we 

Have borne our pain without remorse, or sign 

Of pity from our Maker. Shall we now 

Believe, while thus confronting Him again. 

He means us better ? Never worse than now. 

Therefore I say to ye, on ! mightiest fiends, 

On ! Let us reap companions for our woes, 

Or earn annihilation ! At the word, 

His fiery phalanx rushed to bar the way 

Of Him whose ways are over all His works. 

A million spears blazed forth their answer bright, 

As of as many tongues. Serene our ranks 



404 FESTUS. 

Stood as tlie stars o'er thunder. God tlie Son 
Sate in His orbed car, and breathed on them ; 
And they were rolled up like the desert sands 
Before the burning wind, — throne wrecked on 

throne, 
All ruined and fordone. Pursue ! He cried, 
Nor let them near the earth I go to judge. 
And we pursued, as many as He chose. 
And chased from sphere to sphere that wretched 

wreck 
Of falsest fiends : — and I, it seems, am fi!rst 
Of all my victor brethren to declare 
The triumph past and coming, and to cheer 
Your hearts with tidings of our Lord, to whom 
Be glory for His universal deeds, 
And to him, only God ! 

Saint. Behold where comes 

Another warrior-angel from on high ; 
Like angels, always singly or in hosts. 

Angel. It is the most dread Azrael, unto whom 
The sword of Death is given as a boon. 

Saint. What sayst thou, heavenly one ? 

Azrael. To the extreme bound 

Of Light's domain we chased the flying foe, 
Wlio on the confines of the lower air 
Once rallied at their leader's stern command, 
Whom more they fear, or seem to fear, than God. 
They halted, formed, and faced us. I and mine, 
As on we came in order, full career, 
Exalted by success, hoped ardently 
One more convincing contest ; but in spite 
Of future woe or the tempestuous threats 
Of the great Fiend who marshalled them, each eyed 
His neighbor pale ; their trembling shook all air; 
And each one lift his arm, but no one struck. 



FESTUS. 405 

Awhile in dead tliroe-like suspense tliey stood, 

Or like the irresolution of the sea 

At turn of tide — then wheeled and fled amain, 

And in one mass immense broke down from Heaven, 

Clifi-like ; — there let them lie ! such fate have fiends. 

And we returned, hoping to meet, as charge 

To all was given, the Lord our glory here. 

Akchangel. Let all the dead rejoice ! their Sa- 
viour comes. 



Scene — The Judgment of Eartlu 

The Son of God, the Archangel, Saints and 

Angels. 

Archangel. Let all the dead rejoice ! their Sa- 
viour comes ; 
With clouds of angels circled like a sun. 
Belted with light, and brighter than all light, • 
Lo ! He descends and seats Him on His throne. 
Alighting like a new made sun in Heaven. 
The world awaits Thee, Lord ! Rise, souls of men, 
Buried beneath all ages from the first ; 
Ye numbered and unnumbered, loathed and loved, 
AwaJie to judgment ! Rise ! the grave no more 
Hath power upon ye than the ravening sea 
Upon the stars of Heaven. Ye elements ! 
Give back your stolen dead. He claimeth them 
Whose they both were and are, and aye shall be. 

Son op God. 
I come to repay sin with holiness. 
And death with immortality ; man's soul 
With God's Spirit ; all evil with all good. 
All men have sinned ; and as for all I died. 
All men are saved. Oh ! not a single soul 



40 G FESTUS. 

Less than the countless all can satisfy 
The infinite triumph which to me belongs, 
Who infinitely suffered. Ye elect ! 
And all ye angels, with God's love informed. 
Who reign with me o'er earth and Heaven, assume 
Your seats of judgment. Judge ye all in love, 
The love which God the Father hath to you — 
For His Son's sake, and all shall be forgiven. 

Saints. Lord! let us render back to Thee the 
love 
Which is Thine own : none else is worthy Thee. 

Son of God. 
Behold this day I dwell with thee on earth, 
E'en to the last ; the next sliall be in Heaven, 
Where ye shall meet the Father, and remain 
In the Eternal presence, He through me 
Blessing all spirits overflowingly. 

Saints. Dear Lord, our God and Saviour ! for 
Thy gifts 
The world were poor in thanks, though every soul 
Were to do nought but breathe them, every blade 
Of grass and every atomic of earth 
To utter it like dew. Thy ways are plain 
Only in Thine own light. And this great day 
Unveils all nature's laws and miracles — 
All to Thee all as one. Thy death was life ; 
Thy judgment is all mercy. Lord of Love ! 
The world's incomprehensible no more 
To man, but all is bright as new-born star. 

Son of God. 
The Book of Life is opened. Heaven begins. 



FESTUS. 407 



Scene — The Heaven of Heavens. 

The Eecording Angel, Lucieer, Festus, 

Angels. 

The Recording Angel. All men are judged 
save one. 

Son of God. 

He too is saved. 
Immortal ! I have saved thy soul to Heaven. 
Come hither. All hearts bare themselves to me, 
As clouds unbind their bosoms to the sun, 
And thine was wealthy in the gifts of good. 
And, if its guilt and glory lay in love, 
Let light outweigh the darkness ! Thou art saved. 

Saints. Rejoice ! Rejoice ! 

Festus. Could I, Lord ! pour my soul out. 

In thanks, even as a river rolling ever, 
'Twould be too scant for what I owe to Thee. 

Son of God. 
Nay; immortality is long enough. 
As life, or as a moment is, to shew 
Thy love of good, thy thanks to me and God. 
One heart-throb sometimes earneth Heaven — one 

tear. [lived, 

Festus. My Maker ! let me thank Thee, I have 
And live a deathless witness of Thy grace. 
And Thee, the Holy One, who hast chosen me, 
From old eternity, while yet I lay 
Hid, like a thought in God, unuttered — Thou, 
Who makest finite full with the Infinite, 
As is a womb with an immortal spirit. 
Oh ! let me thank Thee that I witness to Thee. 
And Thou, mid-God ! my Saviour, and my Judge ! 



408 FESTUS. 

Sun of the soul, whose day is now all noon — 

Who makest of the universe one Heaven — 

I praise Thee. Heaven doth praise Thee. God 

doth praise Thee. 
The Holy Ghost doth praise Thee. Praise Thyself I 

Lucifer. Is he not mine ? 

God. 

Evil ! away for aye ! 
In the beginning, ere I bade things be — 
Or ever I begat the worlds on space, 
I knew of him, and saved him in my Son, [Ho 

Who now hath judged; for, fraught with GjU hood, 
Yet feels the frailties of the things He has made ; 
And therefore can, like-feelingly, judge them. 
For I abide not sin ; and in my Son 
There is no sm — not that He takes away. 
It is destroyed for ever and made nothing. 

Son of God. 
Spirit, depart ! tliis mortal loved me. 
With all his doubts, he never doubted God: 
But from doubt gathered truth, like snow from 

clouds. 
The most, and whitest, from the darkest. Go ! 

Lucifer. I leave thee, Festus. Here thou wilt 
To be in Heaven is to love forever [be happy, 

God — and thou must love here. Here thou will 

find 
All that thou canst and oughtst to love : for souls, 
Re-made" of God, and moulded over again 
Into his sun-like emblems, multiply 
His might and love : the saved are suns, not earths ; 
And with original glory shine of God. 
While I shall keep on deepening in my daj'kness. 
With not one gleam across the gloom of being. 

Festus. Let us part, spirit ! it may be, in the 
coming. 



i 



FESTUS. 409 

That as we sometime were all worth God's making. 
We may be worth forgiving ; taking back 
Into His bosom, pure again — and then, 
All shall be one with Him, who is one in all. 

Lucifer. It may be, then, that I shall die. Fare- 
Forgive me that I tempted thee ! [welk 

Festus. I am glad. 

God. 
Stay, spirit ! all created things unmade 
It suits not the eternal laws of good 
That Evil be immortaL In all space 
Is joy and glory, and the gladdened stars, 
Exultant in the sacrifice of sin, 
And of all human matter in themselves. 
Leap forth as though to welcome earth to Heaven — 
Leap forth and die. All nature disappears. 
Shadows are passed away. Through all is light. 
Man is as high above temptation now, — 
And where by Grace he alway shall remain 
As ever sun o'er sea ; and sin is burned 
In hell to ashes with the dust of death. 
The worlds themselves are but as di'eams within 
Their souls who lived in them, and thou art null, 
And thy vocation useless, gone with them. 
Therefore shall Heaven rejoice in thee again. 
And the lost tribes of angels, who with thee 
Wedded themselves to woe, and all who dwell 
Around the dizzy centres of all worlds, 
Again be blessed with the blessedest. , 

Lo ! ye are all restored, rebought, rebuought 
To Heaven by Him who cast ye forth, your God. 
Receive ye tenfold of all gifts and powers. 
And thou who cam'st to Heaven to claim one soul, 
Remain possessed by all. The sons of bliss 
Shall welcome thee again, and all thy hosts, 



410 FESTUS. 

Whereof thou first in glory as m woe — 
In brightness as in darkness erst — shalt shine. 
Take, Lucifer, thy place. Tliis day art thou 
Redeemed to archangelic state. Bright child 
Of morning, once again thou shinest fair 
O'er all the starry ornaments of light. 

Lucifer. The highest and the humblest I of all 
The beings Thou hast made, Eternal Lord ! 

Angel. Behold they come, the Legions of the lost, 
Transformed already by the bare behest 
Of God our maker to the purest form 
Of seraph brightness. 

TuE RESTORED Angels. His be all the praise ! 
And ours submissive thanks. "When evil had done 
Its worst, then God most blessed us and forgave. 
Oh, He hath triumphed over all tlie world, 
In mercy, over death and earth and hell ! 

Son of God. 
All God hath made are saved. Heaven is complete. 

Guardian Angel. Hither with me ! 

Festus. But where are those I love ? 

Angel. Yon happy troop ! 

Festus. Ah ! blest ones, come to me ! 

Loves of my heart, on earth ; and soul in Heaven ! 
Are ye all here, too, with me ? 

All. AU! 

Festus. It is Heaven. 

Angel. Come, let us join our souls into the song 
Of glory, which the Saved all sing, to God. 

The Saved. Father of goodness, 
Son of love. 
Spirit of comfort, 
Be with us ! 
God who hast made us, 
God who hast saved, 



FESTUS. 411 

God wlio liast judged us, 

Thee we praise. 

Heaven our spii-its, 

Hallow our hearts ; 

Let us have God-light 

Endlessly. 

Ours is the wide world, 

Heaven on Heaven ; 

What have we done, Lord, 

Worthy this ? 
* Oh ! we have loved Thee ; 

That alone 

Maketh our glory, 

Duty, meed. 

Oh! we have loved Thee I 

Love we wiU, 

Ever, and every 

Soul of us. 

God of the saved, 

God of the tried, 

God of the lost ones, 

B(i with all ! 

Let us be near Thee 

Ever and aye; 

Oh ! let us love Thee 

lufinite ! 
Festus. So, soul and song, begin and end in 

Heaven, 
Your birth-place and your everlasting home. 

The Holy Ghost. 
Time there hath been when only God was all : 
And it shall be again. The hour is named, 
When seraph, cherub, angel, saint, man, fiend. 
Made pure, and unbelieveably uplift 
Above their present state — drawn up to God, 



412 FESTUS. 

Like dew into the air — shall be all Heaven ; 
And all souls shall be in God, and shall be God, 
And nothing but God, be. 

Son of God. 

Let all be God's. 
God. 
World without end, and I am God alone ; 
The Aye, the Infinite, the Whole, the One. 
I only was — nor matter else, nor mind, 
The self-contained Perfection unconfined. 
I only am — in might and mercy one ; 
I live in all things and am closed in none. 
I only shall be — when the worlds have done, 
My boundless Being will be but begun. 



L'ENVOI. 

Read this, world ! He who writes is dead to thee, 

^ut still lives in theee leaves. He spake inspired : 

Night and day, thought came unhelped, undesired, 
Like blood to his heart. The course of study he 
Went through was of the soul-rack. The degree 

He took was high : it was ^vise wretchedness. 

He suffered perfectly, and gained no less 
A prize than, in his own torn heart, to see 

A few bright seeds : he sowed them — hoped them 
truth. 
The autumn of that seed is in these pages. 

God was with him, and bade old Time, to the youth, 
Unclench his heart, and teach the book of ages. 

Peace to thee, world! — farewell! May God the 
Power, 
And God the Love — and God the Grace, be ours ! 



I 



NOTICES 

OP THE FIEST EDITION OF FESTUS. 



"I can scarcely conceive any degree of poetical eminence which this 
author, starting wltli so much richness of imagination and force of expres- 
Bion, may not be expected to attain." 

* Lord Francis Egerton. 

*' A most remarkable and magnificent production." 

Sir E. Lttton Bulwek. 

•'His place will be among the first, if not the first, of our native poets." 

W. IIaKRISON AlNSWORTH. 

"There is great exuberance of thought and imagery throughout this 
work, and a profuse expenditure of both, fearless of exhaustion of the 
author 's stores. One feels as if one had * eaten of the insane root that takes 
the reason prisoner ' in man,v passages ; or ' of the tree of knowledge of 
good and evil,' with strange elevations of spirit, and stranger misgivings, 
alternately glowing and shivering through the bosom." 

James Montgomjebt. 

" It contains poetry enough to set up fifty poets." 

Ebexezer Elliott. 

"I know no poem in any language that can be compared with it in 
copiousness and variety of imagery. The universe is as rife with symbols 
to tliis I'oet as it is w'lih. facts to the common observer. His illustrations, 
sometimes bold and towering as the mountains, are at others soft, subtle, 
and delicate as the mists that veil their summits. But better than this, 
with a truth, force, and simplicity seldom paralleled, we have here dis- 
closed the very inmost life of a sincere and energetic mind, Metaphysical 
and psychological speculations are, so to speak, actualized and verified by 
the earnestness and passion of the writer. There are few hooks in which 
what is so profound in its essence is rendered so familiar in its exposition." 

J. W. Mabston. 

'• Might such a simile be allowed, I should say honestly, that this book 
Is in a modern library what the garden of Eden was in the old world, —a 
Blory and perfection, in the midst of comparative sterility." 

Charles Hooten. 

" The unrepressed vigour of imagination, the splendour of great and ori. 
ginal hnagery , the passion of poetry. The philosoi)hy of the poem of Festus 
is to shew the great ministry of evil as a purifier." 

R. H. HoRNE (Spirit of the Age). 



41 G NOTICES. 

" There Is matter enough in it to float a hundred volumes of the usuaJ 
prosy poetiy. It contains some of the most wonderful things I ever read.'' 

Mrs. S. C. Hall. 

" There is no more enthusiastic admirer of ' Festus ' than myself. " 

Mrs. MAIiT HOWITT. 

•' Sure we are that Festus will be read, admired, and lauded as one among 
the most striking, original, and powerful productions uf the age. Our im- 
pression, after a careful and attentive perusal of it, is, that a new poet, and 
a great poet, is again among us." — Britannia. 

"The design of Festus is excellent, and its morals unexceptionable. 
The work is one of a remarkable but of a Christian character. We there- 
fore beg to recommend it to public notice." —Manchester Chronicle. 

' ' The vein of richest poetrj' runs full and free through the whole volume. 
We are astonished at the continuous and overflowing wealth of thought 
and depth of tender feeling. The language of his female characters is al- 
ways beautiful. There is great beauty in the purity and deep devotion of 
them all. The sheet-anchor of assurance in the long-sufl'ering and the 
sublime love of the universal Father which is cast out into the troubled 
sea.s of human passion, and the holy beauty of purifled affection which is 
thrown like a rainbow over the gloomy vessel of humanity, in this poem, 
is the salvation of it." — Eclectic Review. 

"With nothing are we more impressed on the whole than with the 
sacred character of this poem." —Monthly Magazine. 

" It is long since we have read any human composition, with equal in- 
terest." — Birmingham Advertiser. 

"We know of no book in our time so subordinated to nature. Do not 
consider it as a book or as a work of art at all, but as a leaf out of the book 
of life. In boldness of conception and delicate touches of nature — wild 
passion, Festus is unsurpassed. It speaks from soul to soul. " — 2%e 

Wo/, u. a. 



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